INTERNATIONAL MEMORIAL EDITION 



LIFE OF 



WILLIAM McKlNLEY 

OUR 

MARTYRED PRESIDENT 



y 



WITH SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF LINCOLN 
AND GARFIELD, AND A COMPREHENSIVE 
<*^LIFE OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'^^f^) 



CONTAINING 

The Masterpieces of McKiniey's Eloquence, and a History of Anarchy, 

its Purposes and Results. 



EDITED BY 



Rt. Rp:v. Samuel Fallows, LL. D. 

The Personal Friend and Comrade of the Late President; Author of 'Life of Samuel 

Adams,'' ''Synonyms and Antonyms," "Liberty and Union,'' "The 

Popular and Critical Biblical Encyctopcedia," etc., etc. 

ASSISTED BY AN ABLE CORPS OF CONTRIBUTORS 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

UNITED STATES SENATOR WM. E. MASON 



SUPERBLY ILLUSTRATED 



REGAN PRINTING HOUSE 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



t- 







THE LIBRARY OF 


1 l^ 


COMPRESS, 


Two Co^-ll:d Received 




OCT. t7 1901 




^OPVRIOHT ENTRY 

CLASS Ct-KXc. NO. 
COPY 3. 





Copyright 1901, by 

SAMUEL FAI^LOWS 
CHICAGO, ILUNOIS 



PREFACE 

The personal love of the author and editor of this work 
for President McKinley is one of the main reasons which 
has impelled him to give it to the public. For many years 
he was acquainted with the President chiefly through a com- 
mon relationship as army comrades. His respect, well-nigh 
bordering on reverence, for Major McKinley, has been 
heightened by increasing years. There was a steady growth 
in beauty of feature and in wisdom and power as advancing 
positions of trust came to this illustrious man. He with the 
upward rose and with the vastness grew. Every "king be- 
coming grace of character" was found in him and was ex- 
pressed in new and striking forms as occasion arose. The 
magnificent eulogies which have been pronounced upon him, 
touching every phase of his many-sided, matchless life, were 
"but dull beside the truth." 

The wonderful funeral accorded him, unprecedented in 
the world's history, attests the hold he had upon the hearts 
of his countrymen, and the spontaneous tributes of respect 
from all quarters of the globe, evinced the well-nigh univer- 
sal esteem with which he was regarded. 

All that tongue or pen or art can do to perpetuate his 
memory and widen the knowledge of his life and services 
is the just demand of the American people. 



His life was gentle, and the elements 

So mix' d 171 him that nature might stayid up 

And say to all the world, ''This was a man!' 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mr. William McKinley. 

Mrs. William xMcKinlcy. 

Mr. William McKinley, Father of the President. 

Mrs. William McKinley, Mother of the President. 

John Hay, Secretary of State. 

John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy. 

Lyman J. Gage, Secretary of the Treasury. 

Elihu Root Secretary of War. 

Ethan A. Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior. 

James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. 

James Emery Smith, Postmaster General. 

P. C. Knox, Attorney General. 

Mark Hanna. 

James Abram Garfield, Assassinated in 1881. 

Abraham Lincoln, Assassinated in 1865. 

Leon Czolgosz, the Assassin of McKinley. 

The Capitol, Washington, D. C. 

The Whitehouse, Washington, D. C. 

The Milburn House, Buffalo. 

McKinley Residence, Canton, Ohio. 

Mrs. Wm. McKinley, Mother of the President. 

Mr. Abner McKinley. 

Rt. Rev. Bishop Samuel Fallows, D. D.. LL. D. 

Brevet Brigadier General Samuel Fallows. 

President Roosevelt. 
Mrs. Roosevelt. 

President Roosevelt's Children. 

United States Senator Wm. E. Mason. 

President McKinley and the Spanish War Cabinet. 
President Lincoln and his Cabinet. 
Assassination Scene. 
The Last Farewell. 

Mr. McKinley at Age of 16. 

Mr. McKinley at Age of 18. 

Mr. McKinley at Age of 22. 

Mr. McKinley as First Lieutenant Twenty-third Ohio, O. V. L, taken December. 
1862. 

The Receiving Vault. 

Birthplace of McKinley. 

The Emergency Hospital, Buffalo. 

Leaving Milburn Residence for City Hall, Buffalo. 

Arrival of the Funeral Train at Canton. Ohio, from Washington. 

House in Poland, Ohio, where McKinley Lived While Attending School. 

Poland, Ohio, Seminary, Where McKinley Attended School. 

Post Office, Poland, Ohio. Where McKinley was Clerk. 

Sparrow House, Poland, Ohio, Where McKinley Enlisted in 1861. 

McKinley Carrying Dispatches from Gen. Hayes to Gen. Crook. 

McKinley Removing an Abandoned Battery in the Face of the Enemy. 

McKinley Directing Gen. Sheridan to Gen. Crook's Headquarters After the Fam- 
ous Ride from Winchester. 

McKinley at the Battle of Antietam Serving Coffee and Meat Under Fire. 



(iv) 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGES 

*^<3hapter I. — The Story of the Assassination of President McKinley — Leon 
Czolgosz Shoots the President — Seizure of the Murderer — Subsequent Care 
of the President, Etc. — McKinley's Fight for Life — At the Milburn House — 
Favoralile Reports of the Surgeons — The Joyful News Widely Spread — The 
Sudden Relapse, Etc. — Deathbed Scene of the President — Hymn Chanted 
by McKinley — Last Interview With Mrs. McKinley — The President's Last 
Words 13-26 

Chapter H. — Funeral Processions and Rites. — Funeral of the President — 
Services at Buffalo — The Funeral Procession to Washington — Services in 
Washington — Sermon by Bishop Andrews, Etc. — Funeral Services at Can- 
ton, Ohio. — Address by Rev. Dr. Manchester. — Prayer by Rev. Father 
Battman, Chaplain at Fort Sheridan, Illinois — The Interment — The Presi- 
dent's Surgeons 27-44 

Chapter III. — Expressive Tributes from Foreign Lands— London— Westmin- 
ster Abbey — Sorrow of the Press — Telegram from King Edward VII. — 
Birmingham — T. P. O'Connor — Redmond — The London Times— Canadian 
Demonstration— Duke of York— Mexico— Santiago— Porto Rico— Germany 

Telegram from Emperor William— Paris— St. Petersburg— Russian Press 

— Brussels — Vienna — Etc 44-57 

Chapter IV.— Tributes from Eminent Americans— Homage of a Great City- 
Eulogies of ex- President Cleveland— William Jennings Bryan— Cardinal 
Gibbons— Archbishop Ireland— Senator Shelby M. Cullom— Secretary John 
D. Long— Justice David Brewer— Resolutions in Paris Framed by General 
Horace Porter and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge— Rev. H. W. Thomas, 
D. D.— Ex-Congressman Geo. E. Adams— Father Kelly— Andrew D. 
White— Senator Hoar— Grand Army Tribute— Mankind at Salute— Bishop 
B. W. y\rnett— Bishop Galloway— Order of the Loyal Legion— Silence. 

^ the Hushed and Solemn Tribute of a Great City— Incidents, Etc 5^^-Sl 

^ Chapter V.— Life of William McKinley— Early Manhood— War Record- Law- 
yer and Politician ' "'^^' 

Chapter VI.— His Last Term in Congress— Recc^rd on the Tariff 98-107 

Chapter VII— Governor of Ohio .<■:'. 108-114 

Chapter VIIL— Financial Troubles-Loyalty to Friends, Blaine, Sherman. 

TT • II5-I22 

Harrison 

Chapter IX.— Great Campaign of 1894 123-130 

Chapter X —Nominated for President— The St. Louis Convention, June 16, 
1896— Thos. B. Reed- Senator William B. Allison— Levi P. Morton— Gen- 
eral Russell B. Alger— Hon. Thos. Henry Carter— Rabbi Samuel Sale— 
Hon Charles W Fairbanks— Rev. Dr. W. G. Williams— Bishop Arnett— 
Hon John Grant-Higgins Delegates-Addicks Delegates-M. B. Madden 

(V) 



vi Table of Contents 

PAGES 

—Rev. John R. Scott— Senator-Elect Foraker— Reading of the Platform- 
Senator Teller— Substitute for Coinage Paragraph— Voting on the Para- 
graph—Senator Cannon— Withdrawal of the Silver Delegates— Nomination 
of Senator W. B. Allison— Of Thomas B. Reed— Of Governor Levi P. 
Morton— Nomination of William McKinley by Governor Foraker— Stirring 
Scenes— Nomination Seconded by Senator Thurston— McKinley Nominated 

President and Garret A. Hobart Vice President 131-140 

Chapter XL— First Presidential Campaign— McKinley informed of nomina- 
tion by Senator Thurston— William Jennings Bryan the Democratic Nom- 
inee for President— Greatest Campaign of the Country— Joseph C. Sibley— 

Senator Julius C. Burrows— Senator Hanna 141-151 

^^ Chapter XIL— President of the United States— Inaugural Address— The 
Cabinet— Readjustment of the Tariff— The War With Spain— The Finan- 
cial Record— Summary of the First McKinley Administration I52-I55 

Chapter XIIL— The President's Own Story of the Spanish War: Spain 
Given Time to Settle Trouble— Destruction of the Maine— Efforts to Avert 
War Prove Vain— Congress Takes Decisive Action— Formal Declaration 
of War— Recruiting Army and Navy— Nation Takes War Bonds— Dewey's 
Great Victory— Campaign in Cuba Reviewed— Sinking of the Merrimac— 
Destruction of Cervera's Fleet— Occupation of Porto Rico— Last Battle of 
the War— Losses of Army and Navy— Signing of the Protocol— Cessation 
of Strife— Work of Evacuation 156-174 

Chapter XIV.— Chronological Events of the Spanish-American War— The 

Treaty of Paris— Loss and Cost of the War to Both Nations 175-181 

Chapter XV.— Country Expands and Becomes a World Power— Annexation 
from 1783 to 1893— Annexation from 1893 to 1901— President Dole and the 
Hawaiian Islands— Porto Rico— The Philippines— There to Preserve Peace 
—What the Commissioners Found— The Rebellion Must be Put Down- 
Work of Reconstruction— Government Established in Negros— Voting in— 
A few words about Sulu— Freedom of Slaves in Jolo— Winning the FiH ■ 
pinos, Etc.— Our Flag Waves in Blessing 182-195 

Chapter XVL— Meets the Crisis in Chin.\— Officials Culpable— American 
Relations with China— Early Negotiations Successful— I\Ian the Leader- 
Murder of Von Ketteler— Quotes Conger's Report— Imperial Troops Guilty 
—United States Policy Unchanged— Must Punish Culprits 196-205 

ChapterXVIL— Renominated AND Re-elected President— Convention in Phila- 
delphia Met June 19, 1900— Senator Wolcott— Senator Henry Cabot Lodge 
—Senator Foraker, Etc.— McKinley Nominated President— Great Enthu- 
siasm—Governor Theodore Roosevelt Nominated Vice President— William 
Jennings Bryan Nominated by the Democrats for President— McKinley 
Elected 205-21 1 

Chapter XVIIL— Anecdotes and Incidents in McKinley's Life— Respect 
for the Sabbath— Sunday Before Inauguration— Meeting a Crisis on a Bat- 
tle Field— McKinley's First Law Case— Made a Minister Out of a Bad Page 
—His Popularity with the Newsboys — Duty to Country Above Self — The 
President Could Afford to Keep a Cow— The President's Title— The Hap- 
piest Man in the Country— His Quiet Methods of Disapproval— The Presi- 



Table of Contents 



vu 



dent Proves His Methodism— Places Flowers in the Hand of Toil— A 
Page's Sympathy Wins Him Favor— Service to a Political Opponent— Mc- 
Kinley's Courtship— The Oft-Repeated Salute— The President's Devotion 
to His Mother— His Tender Solicitude for His Wife— One Day at a Time- 
Dwelling Together in Unity— Beloved by His Cabinet and Desirous of 
Doing What is Right— Faithful in Attendance upon Church— Closing Inci- 
dents in McKinley's Life, Etc ^10-20^ 

\j Chapter XIX.— Chronological Record of the Life of President William Mc- 

Kinley 227-231 

Chapter XX. — Masterpieces of William McKinley's Eloquence: The Re- 
publican Party— The McKinley Tariff of 1890— The Black Color-Bearer— 
The American Workingman— The Eight Hour Law— Education and Citi- 
zenship—An Auxiliary to Religion— Prosperity and Politics— Gems of 
Patriotic Expression 232-2SI 

Chapter XXL— William McKinley's Masterpieces of Eloquence Continued 
—Memorial Day Address : The American Volunteer Soldier— Ulysses S. 
Grant— Address at the Dedication of the Grant Monument— John A. Logan. 252-270 

Chapter XXIL— William McKinley's Masterpieces of Eloquence— Con- 
tinued — July Fourth at Woodstock — Business ;\len in Politics — Address at 
the Trans-Mississippi Exposition at Omaha, Nebraska — Speech in the 
Coliseum, St. Louis, Missouri — Speech at First Regiment Armory. Chi- 
cago — Speech at the Auditorium, Atlanta, Georgia — American Womanhood 
— Estimate of the Constitution of the United States — Last Public Address 
at the Pan-American Exposition — Golden Sayings of McKinley 271-294 

Chapter XXIII. — Abraham Lincoln — Life Described by William McKinley — 
He Disdained no Human Being — A Democrat, Like Franklin — Grew 
Steadily to Meet His Task — Great Orator and Popular Leader — His Rivals 
Become His Ministers — He Pleaded First for Peace — His Emancipation 
Proclamation — He Saw the Purposes of God — Value of the Black Soldiers 
— Immortal Gettysburg Speech — Used Power With Moderation — Clearly 
the Greatest Man of His Time — Wise Words for the Present Day, Etc. — 
Will L^phold American Labor — Party Will Hold to Lincoln's Advice — 
Washington and Lincoln — Ultimate Test of His Greatness 295-316 

Chapter XXIV. — Abraham Lincoln — Continued — Politician Assassination — 

Stories — Final Burial — Chronology 3'i7-332 

Chapter XXV. — James A. Garfield — Sketch of Garfield's Life by William 
McKixi.EY — Garfield in the Civil War — Chronological Events of Garfield's 
Life — Death-bed Scenes of Presidents Lincoln and Garfield Contrasted 333-343 

Chapter XXVI. — Theodore Roosevelt— Birth, Political History and War 
Experience. — Roosevelt, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy — Preparations 
for War, Etc 344-359 

Chapter XXVII. — Theodore Roosevelt — Governor. Vice President — Anecdotes 
And Incidents — Administration as Governor — Roosevelt as Vice President 
—Marriage and Children— Author— In the Pulpit— Ideas of Honesty- 
Police Commissioner— Thoughts as a Boy— Qualities of Rough Rider.s— 
True Americanism — Advice to Young Men— Love of Athletic Sports- 
Cordial and Approachable— Interest in Animals— Tenacity— An Exciting 
Occasion— A Thrilling Lion Hunt— Civil Service— Friendliness 360-373 



viii Table of Contents 

PAGES 

Chapter XXVIII. — Theodore Roosevelt — Addresses and Tributes to His 
Ciiaracter — The Strenuous Life — The American Need of a Strong Navy — 
The Rough Riders — Address at the MinneapoHs State Fair of Minnesota, 
Minneapolis, September 2, 1901 — Tributes to the Character of Roosevelt — 
The Christian Endeavor World — The North Western Christian Advocate — 
The Daily Graphic — The London Morning Post — The Post-Standard — 
The London Daily Mail — The London Globe — Beliner Neuscte Nachricten 
— The National Zeitung — Chicago Record-Herald — Bishop Fallows — Har- 
per's Weekly 374-404 

Chapter XXIX — Anarchy — Its Origin, Purposes and Results — Notable As- 
sassinations — Haymarket Square Murder, Chicago — Herbert Spencer — Herr 
Most — Opinions of Eminent Men — Senator Dolinger — Governor Yates — 
Rt. Rev. Samuel Fallows — Mayor David Rose — Edgar A. Bancroft — General 
John C. Black — Rev. Rufus A. White — Resolutions of the Marquette Club, 
Chicago — Resolutions of the Associated Press, New York City — Theodore 
B. Thiele — Rt. Rev. Charles Edward Cheney — President M. Woolsey Stry- 
ker — Hon. George R. Peck — Senator J. P. Dolliver — Rev. Thomas E. Mason 
— Justice David Brewer — Rev. T. W. Gunsaulus — The Pope of Rome — The 
Nachrichtcn of Berlin — The Manchester Guardian — Labouchere — Opinions 
of the Law Makers, Etc. — Editorials of Many Leading Journals, Etc 405-438 

Chapter XXX. — Trial and Condemnation of the Assassin 439-448 

Chapter XXXI.— The Nation's Man — The Great Speech of Senator J. N. 

Thurston at the St. Louis Convention, June 17. 1896 — Close of the Book. .. .449-453 



INTRODUCTION 

By Hon. William E. Mason, United States Senator from 

Illinois 

I have been requested to write an introduction to this work and 
refer to the great crime of anarchy and give utterance to a few words 
of heartfelt appreciation of the hfe and services of our noble martyred 
chief, President McKinley. 

I hope and pray that in the Congress of the United States there 
will be a man with brains and genius enough to draft a law that will 
teach the people that there is no room within the borders of this great 
nation for the flag of anarchy. It must die, and it will die. I think 
if no other lesson has been taught by the horrible deed which has cast 
an affliction upon this entire country, the 77,000,000 people which 
comprise it have registered a vow thcit anarchy is worse than treason 
and must be stamped out at any cost. 

There ought to be greater protection against the vile reptiles of 
anarchy in this country. I have often talked with Mr. McKinley 
on this subject and urged that he secure better protection for himself, 
but it was of no avail. He would not have it that way. He always 
said it was too much like royalty; that he was in a free country and 
he wanted to be just like any other citizen. If he had been forced 
to have five or six guards this dastardly deed could never have been 
committed. This should be regulated by Congress. It is the only 
way to safeguard the country, for the president is the real and true 
representative of the country. 

Lincoln was assassinated by a man who was an avowed enemy. 
When Garfield was assassinated it was at a time when party politics 
were running high. But here in the shadow of peace, with the country 
brim full of prosperity, a war peaceably over with, and conditions 
most favorable to tranquillity, there is the school of anarchy with its 

(ix) 



X Introduction 

doctrines taught in public places, and this vile reptile, one of its adher- 
ents, springing from the nests of anarchy in Chicago, where it is taught 
that it is right to kill the ruler, becomes the assassin of our beloved 
president — a man far above reproach and criticism even by his bit- 
terest political enemies. 

But the genius of government is too strong for anarchy. Even 
the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. With all its faults, it is 
still the best. We can look at other nations even with our president 
struck down and say that we have the best government. 

He was the gentlest man I ever knew. The greatest men are the 
gentlest. With the president the more power he had the more gentle 
and considerate he became. In disagreements of any kind he always 
left his hand extended and his heart open. He was clean and fair 
in debate and never spoke an unkind word of an opponent. His clothes, 
too, were always remarkably neat and clean, like his character. 

At public receptions royalty of other countries, with gold lace and 
other accouterments, was present, and I would look into the pale, 
noble face of the president and thank God that I was an American and 
that McKinley was president. 

He never feared assault. He had supreme confidence in his own 
being that kept him from fearing anarchy. I find the great men are 
the most gentle. The strong man speaks not widely of his power 
• — the more power you give him the more cautious he is in the exer- 
cise of it. I did not always agree with him in matters of policy, but 
he nevertheless always left his heart open and his hand out. I never 
heard him complain of anyone. He never spoke ill of his enemies. 
He never changed. Some men are frivolous in pul:)Hc office, but Major 
McKinley always maintained dignity. In his debates he never con- 
cealed a fact; no word ever passed his lips that did not come from 
the depths of his heart. 

He loved truth, he loved geniality, he loved his home, he loved 
his wife — in brief, he loved all that was pure and good. If all other 
characteristics had been forgotten, if his record as a soldier and a 
president were not sufficient, and if he had done nothing for human- 
ity, the picture of his devotion to his invalid wife alone has done enougli 
to teach us loyalty to our homes and families. 



Introduction 



XI 



DEARLY LOVED NATURE. 

McKinhy loved children — he loved flowers, he loved nature, he 
was more generous in giving the pubHc a chance to see him and speak 
to him than anyone I ever knew in similar position. I never saw him 
when he did not say a few kind words to, a child and take the trouble 
to pluck a flower. He was doing this at the very moment he was 
shot. If he had not turned to wave a last farewell to a little girl he 
might have seen the assassin in time to save him from the murderous 
assault. 

Look at the picture of that grand man in his devotion to his invalid 
wife and see him kneeling by his aged mother's deathbed. If we knew 
nothing more of President McKinley than this it would be enough to 
make him a prince of men. 




CHAPTER I. 
The Assassination of President McKinley. 

It was President's Day at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo. 
Flags were flying, banners waving, and the strains of martial music were 
in the air. The prismatic towers of the Rainbow City shone against a 
sky as blue as the far-famed heavens of Italy. 

The chief executive of the United States delivered a masterly address 
to tiie assembled thousands, moving his audience as only the gifted orator 
may. At its close the cheers broke forth and lasted several minutes. It 
was a personal triumph which amounted to an ovation. 

As the last lights sank to dimness and the tired throng went home, 
all seemed well. Peace and content lay upon the exposition which typified 
the progress of the Americas. There was no hint of the blow which 
was soon to fall. 

The following day. William McKinley, president of the United 
States, went to the exposition as a guest. Arrangements had been made 
for a public reception at the Temple of ]\Iusic, one of the most spacious 
buildings in the grounds. 

Promptly at half past three, in the afternoon of September 6, 
President McKinley. accompanied by the president of the exposition, 
John G. Milburn, Secretary Cortelyou and a guard of detectives, arrived 
at the railroad depot on the grounds. Two minutes before four o'clock, 
the hour ai)pointed for the reception, his carriage drew up at the entrance 
to the Temple. 

Twenty thousand people were gathered in and around the building, 
and as the president bowed to the right and to the left, a great shout of 
welcome went up on every side. The organ in the Temple broke into the 
stirring strains of the national air, and the crowd fell back from the door- 
way through which the chief was to pass. 

Inside the Temple a space had been made in the center of the floor for 
the president to stand and greet the thousands who were waiting to grasp 
his hand. 

Perhaps a hundred men. women and children had gone slowly up the 
long aisle and looked into the kindly face that met each one with a smile 
Then there was a break in the line and a rush of exposition guards toward 
the door through which the crowds were entering. 

13 



14 Life of William McKinley 

At the moment a woman was standing before Mr, IMcKinley, The 
trouble at the door apparently subsided and the woman gave way to a 
well dressed man. He grasped the president's hand warmly and spoke a 
few, words, then the crowd pushed him on. 

The next was a burly colored man, whom the President greeted with 
the same smile Secret Service Agents Foster and Ireland were standing 
directly across from the president, closely scanning each man and woman 
passing along in the line. 

When the next man appeared, the government officers saw before 
them a quietly-dressed, intelligent appearing young man w^ith reddish 
hair and smooth shaven cheeks. His right hand was thrust beneath the 
lapel of his coat and a handkerchief was wrapped about it in such a way 
as to give the impression that the hand had been injured. 

The man turned his eyes squarely upon the president's face and ex- 
tended his left hand. 

Mr. McKinley observed that the man before him was offering his 
left hand instead of his right, and his eyes wandered to the hand thrust 
beneath the coat. Then his own right hand closed about the fingers of 
the man who, like Judas, was to betray him. 

The touch of Mr. McKinley's hand seemed to rouse the man to action. 
He leaned suddenly forward, at the same time holding the president's 
hand in a vise-like hold. He drew Mr. McKinley the barest trifle toward 
him and the right hand flashed from beneath the coat lapel. 

The hand and fingers were hidden by the folds of the handkerchief. 
The man thrust the hand fairly against the president's breast and pulled 
the trigger of the weapon that the white bit of cloth was hiding. 

Two pistol shots rang out sharply and echoed back from the walls of 
the Temple. President McKinley dropped the man's hand and stag- 
gered back. Upon his face was a look of angry surprise. 

Secretary Cortelyou and President Milburn, who were standing a 
little behind him, caught him as he was falling and drew him into a 
chair. The president's first words were : "May God forgive him." 

At the sound of the shots Detective Ireland of the secret service 
force leaped upon the man like a tiger and close behind him came the 
colored man who had just shaken hands with the president. They 
were struggling with him on the floor when the president reached the 
chair. Turning his head to Detective Gerry, another member of his 
bodyguard, he asked : 

"Am I shot?" 

He had evidently been so stunned by surprise that he had not felt 
the impact of the bullets. Meanwhile Secretary Cortel3'ou had torn 
open the president's vest. Blood was on his shirt front, and Detective 



Our Martyred President 15 

Gerry, answering his question, said : "I fear you are, Mr. President." 

Secretary Cortelyou sank on one knee at the side of the president 
and looked anxiously into his face. 

"Do not be alarmed," said the president, "it is nothnig." Then his 
head sank forward into his hands for a moment, but he raised it, de- 
spite the stream of crimson which came from the wound in his breast 
and spread in an ever widening circle on his white shirt front. 

"But you are wounded," exclaimed Mr. Cortelyou ; "let me examine. 

"No, no," insisted the president, "I am not badly injured, I assure 

?> 
^"^The guards were driving the crowds out of the building. Mr. Cor- 
telyou asked the president if he felt any pain. Mr. McKinley slipped 
his hand through his shirt front and pressed his fingers against his 

"I'fee* a sharp pain here," he said. Then, as he withdrew his hand 
and saw blood dripping from his finger tips, he compressed his lips 
tightly, then turned to those about him and said, m a whisper: 

"I trust T^Irs. McKinley will not be informed of this. At least 
try to see that what she must know of it be not exaggerated in the 

^'^^^Mr McKinlev's head sank back on the chair and he seemed to be 
drowsy. Tears filled the eyes of those who were watching at his side 
but there was not a sound to break the dead silence that had followed 

''' ^L:"r ::as a commotion just outside the little circle and Un. 
• ister Aspiroz, of Mexico, forced his way to a place cose beside Mi. 
McKinlev. crying: "O God, Mr. President, are you shoti^ 

Mr AIcKinley roused himself and smiled sadly. \es-i behCAe 
I_am " he clasped. His head sank back again but only for a moment 
Sucilenlv straightening up in his chair, he gripped the arms tightly and 
fl rt Ins feet^ut in front of him with a quick, nervous movement. 
Thus he sat. with his lips tightly closed, an example of superb self- 
control, until the ambulance arrived 

When the secret service men and the colored man f^ist tluew tnem 

.rrimblino- nuartet and buried him from sight. Eveiy man m m a i 

sessed them tbe instant they realised what he had done^ 

-^hc D-reater nart of the crowd was stunned for an mstant oy i 
enormfty'^r^e cr^e they witnessed, but when the react.on came they 



^^ Life of William McKinley 

surged forward like wild beasts, the strongest pushing the weakest aside 
and torcnig themselves forward to where the prisoner was held bv his 
captors. •> 

A tmiiult of sound filled the place-a hollow roar at first, punctuated 
by ^,e s neks of women and swelHng into a n,ediey of yells and cn^es 

A httle force ot exposition guards, penned in by the claniorin.^ 
Towd '° "'""'"^ '" "°"' ""'■■■ P"^°-^ f'-°™ '■- blood-^lnrs"; 

They had Inni, safe and fast. His revolver had been wrenched fron-. 
b.m H' "e ntstant that Detective Ireland fell upon hin, !and he va 

hitn'rve'ThetacrofXXr^^"'^ '""' "^"* ^' '"^ ^'^ --'-" 
Slowly, very slowly, the little force of police made w^ay through 

i".ert,:::eS'i;::i~ '-'-- '-■ -- - ''-- 
HP, ^;7 r ''dt:::r '-et:a:^i- - r-r t 

Tew: , I'd";::! '"^ "1 '-nV-^ '>ead^uarte,t':here fd ° : 

st:r. 'rid^shed'i'^i it:^ ; r :::,s"'' M::itT"^ --'■ r^ 

they could best handle the excited c o thev f ^^ ™'" "''"■' 

of the doors for the bearin' nw.^v of t "''>^,<='^^'"<='' ''' P'-<=*i'"-'ge to one 

bos.tal, near thV^ i^Jl-illl-n-t;^ : ^tt!::^;!;:^^^^ ™— ' 

reach ntrzriusro'ff'r™ '"■^^'" "'^'■- ^"--' ""'i- "->■ 

His face wast II bleed Lfr' T'lf ^"^ "^ "'^ ^'=™P''= °f M"«ic 
PaH<er, who ha "r ed a h/ ^'°''' ^"'" '"'" '^^ "'<= ^g-'o, 

ten sec;nds ,™.e." ' " "'' '°™ "^^^ ^^"^ ''""• "Oh, only^fo,: 

tbe m;:,: w-;;^;:",,',:::^™:;:;;;'- ^°- -- ^osed with a bang, hut 

made the walls creak ^ "^'"^ '^""'' "'^ ''""'""g' ^i^ly 

.™.s°th:;e:i:r:.,,e x;:a::i7:^r,T^^^' "^^ ''-' "■^' "^^ -- 

the room. One excited exno i iV J '' '' '°°" ^^^ f'^^y ief 

"go in and get the ma"" ' " °'^"''' "•"'"' "P°" "'« P^ple to 

..po'i^aiie";:!:;';;;;" '^ir;-"!^ "™ r-^^^--'- »« -- ■'-'«! 
ing at the «oor, and ^^^:;::i';-:::::-:^:-^:;jt^ 




MRS. WILLIAM McKINLEY 



Our Martyred President 17 

then he breathed deeply from nervous agitation, but he did not speak. 

Outside the building eouid be seen the tumultuous throng of people. 
From all parts of the grounds they had come to the common center. 
Now and then some man's voice would call out: "Don't let him get 
away," and there would be a score of answering shouts of ''Kill him!" 
"Hang him !" "Get a rope !" "Take him up on the arch and burn 
him!" 

An automobile mail v.-agon, only the top of which was visible above 
the crowd, appeared between the Temple and the Government Building. 
The angry crowd thought it was coming for the prisoner. 

"Guard the doors and stop that wagon!" a man shouted. The 
wagon was stopped, but proceeded by a circuitous route a few moments 
later. 

Around the main door was a squad of policemen. Then a detach- 
ment of marines arrived, under command of Captain Leonard. They 
formed in line. Then in a loud, clear tone which penetrated far into 
the crowd, came the order: "Load rifles!" 

The breeches clicked and the men held up to plain view the hard 
steel and the encasing brass as they filled their rifles with cartridges. 

The moral effect was obvious, for the women started a movement 
to draw back and the great impulse of vengeance seemed broken. Men 
and women who had been dry-eyed began to cry. 

The lips of the marines were twitching, but the heads on the broad 
shoulders were motionless, as the breath was held firm and steady. So 
men look when facing a mighty duty with a mighty heart. 

The little room where the prisoner was held contained a quantity of 
■ rope, which was used for shutting off the esplanade at time of drill and 
special festivities. "Rope off the south approaches to the building so 
we can get the wagon in here," said Colonel Byrne. 

"You will never get that wagon forty feet with him in it," said 
Detective Ireland. "We must have a carriage and horses. The peo- 
ple can stop an automobile better than they can horses." 

Some distance awiiy was the carriage in which part of the com- 
mittee had come to the Temple of Music. On the box was a little coach- 
man. As he received his orders and was told that his carriage was 
to take the prisoner away, he smiled. "All right," he said. 

"Gentlemen," said the leader inside, "every moment of this delay 
is making matters worse. The crowd is getting more and more worked 
up and it is getting bigger. It reaches way out over the esplanade now. 
Give this man to me and I give you my word I will get him to Buffalo. 
Here are two Buffalo officers who will go with me." 

"The best plan is to jump him right into this carriage and get him 

2 



i8 Life of William McKinley 

right out of here," said Detective Ireland. The mihtary guards were 
immediately informed of the plans. 

The roped off space was sufficient to admit the carriage, and the 
commander of the exposition police gave the signal. A guard led 
the way, there was a guard on each side of the prisoner and two fol- 
lowed him. The coachman whipped up his horses and dashed to the 
door. The marines and artillerymen dropped their guns until the bay- 
onets w^ere at charge. As the carriage drew up a policeman swung 
open its door. At the same time, the door of the little room opened, 
and out came the prisoner, with his guards. 

He was literally hurled into the carriage by the policemen. The 
crowd surged to the door, yelling: "Here he comes!" "This door!" 
"This door!" The lines of soldiers swayed, but did not break. 

"There he is ! There he is ! Kill him ! Kill him !" came from a thou- 
sand throats. "Don't let that carriage get away, you cowards !" "Kill 
him!" "Kill him!" "Kill the bloody anarchist!" 

It was a bedlam of curses and yells from people fighting to get 
closer, waving their fists, with here and there a revolver gleaming in the 
sun. The roar of the mob was a thing never to be forgotten. It had 
the deadly, intense growl, the wild, blood-thirsty shriek and the rau- 
cous, savage note, that is not heard once in a generation. 

As the carriage moved away, a policeman swung himself to the 
seat beside the coachman. As the wdieels moved beyond the rope, men, 
and even women, sprang forward, caught at the wheels aiid clutched 
at the horses' harness. The driver had a whip with a long lash which he 
played alternately upon the horses and the faces of the crowd. 

Once, as the carriage neared the Triumphal Causeway, the crush 
became too dense to pass through. Strong limbed, angry men were 
in pursuit behind and it looked as if the carriage was to be stoi)ped in 
front. The coachman smiled and, standing up, sped his long lash out 
over the horses' heads. They increased their speed to a gallop, and the 
crowd parted. 

Once on the causeway all was well, for the outer limits of the 
crowd had been reached, and the narrowness of the way be3^ond, as 
well as the downward slope of the road, facilitated movement. The 
crowd gave up its pursuit and the carriage speedily went to the Lincoln 
Park gateway, which swung open as it drew near. From this point 
straight down Delaware avenue, the journey was little interrupted. 

The prisoner, from the moment he had touched the cushions of the 
carriage had cowered in the corner, now and then raising his head as 
he looked out of the windows. When he heard the awful impreca- 
tions as the mob struggled to get near enough to take vengeance con- 



Our Martyred President 19 

vulsive shivers ran through his slender body and his eyes rolled wide 
with terror. His lips were dry and parched and he moistened them 
constantly with his tongue. 

As the carriage passed the Milburn residence, the guard who was 
nearest him looked up at the front of the house in which Mrs. McKin- 
ley lay asleep, and, clutching his club closer in his hand, turned upon 
the prisoner a look which made him cower deeper in the cushions 

Just south of Utica street, the carriage met a light police wagon, 
in wh'ch was Superintendent Bull, who turned and followed the car- 
riage down to headquarters at Station No. i. There the carriage drew 
up sharply and the prisoner was taken in, while a score of idlers, always 
about, looked on with bare interest. 

A uKnnent later l)icyclists who were following told them the Presi- 
dent had been shot and the man who had done it w^as the prisoner who 
had just been taken in. 

The news spread rapidly. When bulletins began to appear on the 
boards along newspaper row and when the announcement was made 
that the prisoner had been taken to police headquarters only two blocks 
distant from the newspaper section, the crowd surged down toward the 
Terrace, eager for a glimpse of the prisoner. 

At police headquarters they were met by a strong cordon of police, 
which was drawn across the pavement on Pearl street, and admittance 
was denied to any but officials authorized to take part in the examina- 
tion of the prisoner. In a few minutes the crowd had grown from 
tens to hundreds, and these in turn quickly swelled to thousands, until 
tiie street was completely blocked with a mass of humanity. 

Some one raised the cry of "Lynch him !" Like a flash the cry was 
echoed and re-echoed by the crowd, until it became an imperious de- 
mand. The thousands .surged forward. 

The situation was becoming critical. Suddenly the doors were 
flung open and a squad of reserves advanced with solid front to the 
other side of the street. Gradually they were dispersed, but not before 
the entire street in front of police headquarters had been roped off. 

Inside the station house, the authorities were questioning the assassin. 
He first gave his name as Fred Nieman, said his home was in Detroit 
and that he had been in Buffalo about a w^eek. Lie said he had been 
l)f)arding at a place in Broadway. Later, this place was located as John 
Nowak's saloon, a Raines law hotel, at 1078 Broadway. Here the pris- 
oner had occupied a room for about a week. 

John Nowak, the proprietor, said he knew very little about the man. 
He had been alone at all times and had had no visitors. In his room 
was found a small traveling bag of cheap make, which contained only 
an empty cartridge box and a few clothes. 



20 Life of William McKinley 

When he was first arrested, he answered a query as to his motive, by 
saying- : "I am an anarchist, and 1 chd my cUity." At headquarters he 
denied that he was an anarchist, but would give no otlier reason for his 
deed. He persistently refused to answer ([uestions. With lips tightly 
closed and with eyes upon the floor, he sat stolidly listening to the torrent 
of questions poured upon him, and answered none of them after making 
the first brief statements about his name and residence. Later, he con- 
fessed that his name was Leon Czolgosz and that he was a disciple of 
Emma Goldman, the anarchist. 

Still later, he signed a confession which stated that he had no con- 
federate, that he decided three days ago to commit the crime, and that he 
had bouglit the revoher in Bufi^alo. He did not appear in the least de- 
gree uneasy or jjenitent for his action, nor did he show any signs of in- 
sanity. 

In the meantime, the president was in the hospital. Probably it was 
not more than five minutes from the time the shots were fired until the 
examination by the surgeons had begun. They discovered that one bul- 
let had entered the breast, striking the bone, then glanced aside, and the 
other had struck the abdomen five inches below the left nipple and one 
and a half inches to the left of the median line. The stomach lying di- 
rectly under that spot, the gravest fears were entertained regarding the 
consequences of that wound. 

Dr. Roswell Park, an eminent surgeon, was immediately sent for. 
About six o'clock he arrived at the hospital and with the assistance of Dr. 
Mynter and several other surgeons, began a search for the ball. It was 
found that the bullet had passed completely through the stomach, piercing 
both walls, and had lodged somewhere in the l)ack, but it could not be 
found. 

The surgeons abandoned the search for the bullet and closed the aper- 
tures in the stomach with several stitches both in front and back. The 
President was under an anaesthetic during the operation and within an 
hour after it was over, he recovered from the effects of the opiate. It 
was announced that he was resting easily and had a good chance for re- 
covery. The principal danger, it was said, lay in the development of 
peritonitis. 

As soon as the surgeons made the announcement that the President 
was in no immediate danger. President Milburn made arrangements to 
have the patient removed to his house on Delaware avenue. The chief 
of police immediately ordered the streets roped off, over which the ambu- 
lance would pass, and stationed guards to prevent all other traffic. 

An automobile ambulance was brought to the emergency hospital 
and with the utmost care the President was removed to Mr. Milburn's 




MR. WILLIAM McKINLEY 
Father of the President 



Our Martyred President 2i 

home. Police were placed on guard in all directions within a block 
of the house, with orders that nothing be allowed to disturb the distin- 
guished patient. 

For two hours after the shooting, Mrs. McKinley was probably the 
only one in Buffalo who knew nothing of it. She was at the home of 
President Milburn, resting from the fatigue of the morning excursion 
to Niagara. Realizing that to one in her delicate state of health the shock 
might have serious effects, the physicians issued strict orders that she 
was not to be told until the last possible moment. 

She awoke from her sleep about half-past five. She was feeling well, 
she said, and at once took up her crocheting, which is one of her favorite 
diversions. She kept at it as long as it was light, remaining in her room. 

When it became dusk and the President had not arrived, she grew 
anxious concerning him. ''I wonder why he does not come," she said 
to one of her nieces. There was no clock in her room, and it was seven 
o'clock before she realized that it was so late. She now began to feel 
very anxious, since she expected him at six o'clock. 

At seven o'clock, Dr. Rixey, the family physician of President and 
Mrs. McKinley, arrived at the Milburn residence. To him was assigned 
the dreaded task of breaking the direful news to the invalid wife. 

At half past seven he came out, and returned to the exposition grounds 
in a carriage. He had broken the news most gently to Mrs. IMcKinley, 
and said that she had borne up bravely. If it was possible to bring him 
to her, she wanted it done. Dr. Rixey assured her that the president 
could safely be removed, and he left Mr. ]\Iilburn's to personally super- 
intend the arrangements. 

The Milburn house was transformed into a bustling place almost 
immediately upon the arrival of the ambulance bearing the wounded 
President. While the sick room was absolutely quiet and no sound 
penetrated its walls, the parlor below had been transformed into an 
office, and two stenographers, with their typewriting machines, were 
installed to answer the telegrams and letters which began to pour in. 
Arrangements were made for telegraph wires to be placed in the house. 

The first official bulletin regarding the condition of the President was 
issued by Secretary^Cortelyou at seven o'clock. He prefaced it with the 
statement that it had been prepared by the physicians. It read thus : 

"The President was shot about four o'clock. One bullet struck him 
on the upper portion of the breast bone, glancing and not penetrating. 
The second bullet penetrated the abdomen five inches below the left nip- 
ple and one and one-half inches to the left of the median line. 

"The abdomen was opened through the line of the bullet wound. It 
was found that the bullet had penetrated the stomach. The opening in 



22 Life of William McKinley 

the front will of the stomach was carefully closed with silk stitches, after 
which a search was made for a hole in the back wall of the stomach. 
Tliis was found and closed in the same way. 

"The further course of the buHet could not be discovered, although 
careful search was made. The abdominal wound was closed without 
drainage. No injury to the intestines or other abdominal organ was 
discovered. 

"The patient stood the operation well. Pulse of good quality, rate 
of 130. Condition at the conclusion of the operation w^as gratifying. 
The result cannot be foretold. His condition at present justifies hope 
of recovery. George B. Cortelyou, 

''Secretary to the President." 

The sad news sped around the world. Living wires flashed it from 
end to end of the continent; through unsounded seas to distant lands. 
Though divided into political factions, at that moment the American 
people stood as one. 

Bulletins were issued at frequent intervals. For a day or two there 
was suspense, then encouraging news. The next two days were marked 
by still further progress. On the loth of September, four days after the 
shooting, the physicians were confident that he had passed the danger line. 

Yet, with true professional conservatism, they refused to give a 
final statement to that effect, save to the family and to those who were 
waiting anxiously in the spacious rooms of the Milburn mansion. There 
was still danger — with the stomach perforated, a bullet hidden some- 
where in his back, and septic poisoning always possible. 

The President maintained his strength and was cheerful. He asked 
for the morning papers, 1)ut his request could not be granted. 

For tlie first time since the assassin was taken away, the President 
asked what had been done with him, and was told that he was being held 
as a prisoner. 

"He must have been crazy," said the President. 'T never saw the 
man until he approached me at the rece]:)tion." When told that the man 
was an anarchist, the President replied : 

"Too bad, too bad!" I trust, though, that he will be treated with 

all fairness." 

* 

HOPE OF RECOVERY ENCOURAGED. 

The good news which came from the President's bedside was received 
with great joy throughout the world. At the Grand Army encampment, 
whicli was then l)eing held in Cleveland, General Daniel Sickles strode 
into headquarters, and said to those assembled there : 

"Comrades, let us thank God for the good news from Buffalo. The 



Our Martyred President 23 

Lord has heard the prayer of the world. Christian, Alohammedan, 
Chinese and all people have united with us in prayer that McKinley 
might be spared to us. That prayer is answered. Blessed be the name 
of the Lord, who preserves that great personality to us." 

Mrs. McKinley was very happy over the good news. "We trust in 
God and believe Mr. McKinley is going to recover speedily," she said. 
"I know he has the best medical attendance that can be obtained and I 
am perfectly satisfied that these doctors are handling the case splendidly. 
It is a great pleasure to know the deep interest and sympathy felt l)y 
the American people. The case is progressing so favorably that we are 
all very happy." 

On September 11 the physicians publicly pronounced him out of 
danger. Vice President Roosevelt left Buffalo for a trip through the 
Adirondacks, and the members of the Cabinet returned to Washington. 

A SUDDEN CHANGE. 

Suddenly, without warning, there w^as a change for the worse. The 
first alarm came from the house at two o'clock on the morning of Sep- 
tember 13, two hours after the encouraging official bulletin sent out 
after the midnight consultation of the physicians. The signal of fear 
was the sending of messages to all the physicians to return to the house 
at once. The President had had a sinking spell. 

At three o'clock it was authoritatively admitted that the President 
was in an extremely critical condition. 

It was stated in the official bulletin, issued at 3 :20 a. m., that "the 
condition of the President gives rise to the gravest apprehensions."^ 

Throughout the day and evening the expectations of attendant friends 
and physicians oscillated as a pendulum between hope and despair. 
Hopeless bulletins followed encouraging reports from the sick room, 
and they in turn gave way to recurrent hope. 

All who passed in and out of the house during the day were ques^ 
tioned as to the President's condition, but little of an encouraging nature 
could be learned. The truth was too evident to be passed over or con- 
cealed. The President's life was hanging in the balance. The watchers 
felt that at any moment might come the announcement of a change 
which would foreshadow the end. 

A slight improvement was noted in the early bulletins and was mam- 
tained during the morning and early afternoon. When it was learned 
that the President was taking small quantities of nourishment hope rose 
that he would pass the crisis in safety. Yet every one knew that the 
coming night, in all probability, would decide whether the President 
was to live or die. It was known that he was being kept alive by the 



24 Life of William McKinley 

strongest of heart stimulants, and that the physicians had obtained a 
supply of oxygen to be used if the worst came. 

During the day the President was conscious when he was not asleep 
Early m the morning when he awoke, he looked out of the window and 
saw the sky was overcast with heavy clouds. 

"It is not so bright as it was yesterday," he said. His eyes then 
caught the wavmg branches of the trees, glistening with rain and he 
spoke agam. "It is pleasant to see them," he said, feebly. 

Mrs. McKinley saw the President only once during the day and 
then only for a moment. No words passed between them. The phy 
sicians led her to his 1:)edside and after she had looked at him for a 
moment, they led her away. 

She was told that he was not so well, but the physicians did not 
deem it best to explam the complications to her, or the real gravitv of 
his condition. 

As fast as steam could bring them the President's secretaries the 
members of his family, and the physicians who had left, convinced' that 
he woukl recover, were whirled back to the city, going at once to the 
Milburn house. 

All night the physicians worked to keep the President alive. The 
day began with a gloomy sky and a pouring rain, broken by frequent 
bursts that amounted to a torrent. Gloom surrounded the ivy-clad 
house about which the sentries were steadily marching. 

No bulletin was issued at six o'clock, as had been customarv. Almost 
as soon as it became light, men and women began to gather about the 
ropes which had been stretched in each direction a block ax\'ay from the 
house. 

_ Mrs. McKinley was awake early. She had slept well throughout the 
night. She was isolated in a corner of the Milburn house and further 
removed by careful guarding, she remained all unconscious of the cloud 
over her head, while the wounded husband, for whose ease her strong 
soul had struggled to overcome a disease-shattered body for days fought 
tor life. -^ J ' i. 

Yet, as soon as she awoke, she instinctively scented danger Trem- 
bhngly, she asked to be taken to her husband earlier than usual She 
was advised to wait a while. \A'^ithout sign of complaint l,ut with a world 
ot suffering m her eyes, she submitted. She feared to ask for a reason 
and nobody dared to give her one. 

_ Throughout the day anxiety grew. At half past six a bulletin was 
issued, signed by Secretary Cortelyou. which read as follows : 
_ The President's physicians report that his condition is most serious 
m spite of vigorous stimulation. The depression continues, and is pro- 
found. Unless It can be relieved, the end is only a question of time " 



Our Martyred President 2; 

Before this bulletin was issued, it was clear to those at his bedside 
that he was dying. Preparations were made for the last sad office of 
farewell from those who were nearest and dearest to him. Oxygen had 
been administered steadily, but with little effect in keeping back the 
approach of death. He came out of one period of unconsciousness, only 
to relapse into another. 

DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT. 

About eight o'clock at night oxygen was given him again, and under 
its influence he slightly revived. He told Dr. Rixey that he realized that 
he was al)out to die, and asked for Mrs. McKinley. 

She came and knelt down by his bedside, and his eyes rested lov- 
ingly upon her. He put out his hands, laid them upon hers, and 
tenderly drew her to him. What he said in that feeble whisper, only he 
and she knew. 

Mrs. McKinley raised her tear-stained face and said to Dr. Rixey: 
^'I know that you will save him. I cannot let him go. The country 
cannot spare him." 

The President's strength did not last long. Unconsciousness returned 
and they led her gently away. 

At 10 o'clock she was summoned to him again. He was awaiting 
her. With his last strength he strove to clasp her hand, She bent 
over him, and his lips moved feebly. 

''Good-by, all, good-by," he said. "It is God's way. His will, not 
ours, be done." Then, as he sank into unconsciousness for the last 
time, he murmured : "Nearer, my God, to Thee. 

At 2:15 o'clock, on the morning of September 14, 1901, the Presi- 
dent died. Plis last breath passed calmly and almost imperceptibly. 
Peace and forgiveness were written on his white face. He had been 
unconscious for several hours and his death was free from pain. 

Again the wires flashed the news around the world. United in a 
common sorrow, eighty million American hearts ached as one. Through- 
out the night many thousands had been anxiously waiting for news. 
The blood-red sun arose upon countless flags that drooped at half-mast. 

ARRIVAL OF ROOSEVELT SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT. 

All day messengers were hunting for Theodore Roosevelt, who, 
fully believing in the recovery of his chief, was in the mountain woods, 
far away from civilization. Through the Adirondacks bugles sounded 
imperiously, calling him to the highest office in the land. 

It was late afternoon when he was found. The sun was sinking 
behind the distant peaks. The yellowed leaves of early autumn, as 



26 Life of William McKinley 

now and then one fell in the silence of the forest, shone like gold in 
the last light of the day. 

The breathless messenger told him what had happened. He leaned 
upon his gun, looking far out across the hills toward the sun which had 
risen upon the third martyred President of the republic. There were 
tears in his eyes. Then he set his teeth together and went back with 
the messenger, having said not a single word. 

After a record-breaking journey he arrived at Buffalo, going first, as 
the humblest citizen might, to the bier of the dead President. In the 
library of the Mill)urn house, he took the oath of office, being sworn 
by Justice Hazel of the supreme court. 



CHAPTER IL 

Proclamation by President Roosevelt. Funeral 
Processions and Rites 

President Roosevelt on Saturday evening, September 14, issued the 
following proclamation : 

"By the President of the United States, a Proclamation : 
''A terrible bereavement has befallen our people. The President of 
the United States has been struck down; a crime has been committed 
not only against the chief magistrate, but against every law-abiding and 

liljcrty-loving citizen. 1 • r 11 . 

'•President McKinley crowned a life of largest love for his fellow 
men of most earnest endeavor for their welfare, by a death of Christian 
fortitude, and both the way in which he lived his life and the way m 
which, in the supreme hour of trial, he met his death will remain forever 
a precious heritage of our people. 

"It is meet that we as a nation express our abiding love and reverence 
for his life, our deep sorrow for his unthnely death. 

-Now therefore I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United 
States of America, do appoint Thursday next, September 19, the day on 
which the body of the dead President will be laid in its last earthly rest- 
■ ing place, as a day of mourning and prayer throughout the Urn ed 
States I earnestly recommend all the people to assemble on that day 
in their respective places of divine worship, there to bow down in sub- 
mission to the will of Almighty God, and to pay out of full hearts their 
homage of love and reverence to the great and good President whose 
death has smitten the nation wnth bitter grief. 

-In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 

seal of the United States to be affixed. .0.1 An 

"Done at the city of Buffalo, the fourteenth day of September, A. D. 

one thousand nine hundred and one, and of the independence of the 

United States the one hundred and twenty-sixth. 

"Theodore Roosevelt. 

"By the President. 
"ToHN Hay, Secretary of State." 

There were three fJerals. The first, of Wilham McK.nley t >e 
martyr, was held in But=falo, where he die<l. The second, of Wdhan. 



27 



28 Life of William McKinley 

McKinley the President, was held in Washington, at the seat of govern- 
ment. The last, of William McKinley the man, was held in Canton, 
his old home. 

The service in Buffalo, which was held in Milburn house, was 
simple. It was marked by none of the pomp of state. It was such as 
the humblest might have had, if he had been loved by his fellow men. 

The funeral train w^as made ready for the sad journey to Wash- 
ington. On the observation car, attached to the rear of the train, 
elevated so that it might be readily seen, was the heavy cedar casket 
which contained the body of the President, guarded by men from the 
army and the navy, of which he was commander in chief. 

The locomotive was heavily draped in black, antl the windows of 
the train were shaded. Only the flag shone brightly, lyino- over the body 
of him who had served it well. 

Along the way the church bells tolled as the cortege passed through. 
Flags hung at half-mast, and from each one hung the streamer of black. 
Women and children strewed flowers upon the track, as if to soothe 
the passage of the chief. 

The night of September i6 was spent in the White House. The 
President was there for the last time. Only relatives and friends were 
admitted. The servants who wept over the body of the President, by 
their tears paid an eloquent tribute to the man. 

For a long time, in the evening, Mrs. McKinley sat liy him alone. 
The room was cleared of even the naval and military guard. At last 
she was led away, so utterly bowed down with grief, that Dr. Rixey 
decided thai she could not attend the public funeral the next day. 

The cortege was formed at the White House by nine o'clock. 
While muftied drums beat the long roll and the military band played 
softly "Nearer, My God, to Thee," the casket was lifted by the guard 
of soldiers and sailors and placed in the hearse. Then "The Dead 
Marcli from Saul" was heard, and the line mo\'ed. 

President Roosevelt, in a carriage drawn by four black horses, and 
with a band of crape around his arm, immediately followed the hearse. 
The justices of the supreme court, in their black robes' of ofiice ; the 
men of the army and navy, in the full dress of their rank; representa- 
tives of foreign governments, in all their trappings of state, were also in 
line. 

The people, by their government, followed his cortege dowai the 
avenue, which they had twice traversed in his train to a triumphal 
inauguration. Under tbe dome of the national capitol, the people, by 
their government, bowed beside his bier. 

The pictured symbolism of a free nation's rise looked down from the 




MRS. WILLIAM McKINLEY 
Mother of the President 



Our Martyred President 29 

wall. The shades of Lincoln and of Garfield could be felt hovering 
overhead to lead a third into the hall of martyrs. From the lips of the 
painted Washington on the canvas, standing among his associates in 
the building of the republic, and from the sculptured Jefferson on his 
pedestal, one could almost hear the words : "Has our work come to 
this — thrice the chosen leader of a free people dead by the assassin's 
hand ?" 

Out of the air in answer one could almost hear the sublime words 
which reverberated across a continent when Lincoln fell, from the lips 
of one who was destined to follow him : "My countrymen ! God reigns, 
and the government at Washington still lives." 

The casket was lifted from the spot where Lincoln's had rested a 
generation ago. It was a tragic parallel. Both had been chosen in 
time of dire distress to lead the nation out of trouble. Both had guided 
the ship of state through war. 

Six months before, vigorous in mind and body, William McKinley 
had gone to the capitol to take the oath of office for the second time. 
His progress was marked by cheering thousands, and the star-spangled 
flag he had ever loved and served shone in the sun on every side. 

That route of triumph became a pathway of tears. The people were 
there, and the flags, but there were signs of sorrow in the white and 
crimson folds, and tears in the eyes of those who saw him pass. Hand- 
kerchiefs, that once waved greeting were pressed to quivering lips to 
keep back the sound of sobs. The huzzas of March were hushed in 
September. Where were gladness and gayety were grief and heart-ache 
now. 

Solemnly the funeral line wound past the Treasury building and into 
the broad sweep of Pennsylvania avenue. The people stood in the rain 
with heads uncovered, and bowed in sadness as the chieftain passed. 

The home of the nation's government awaited the cortege in solemn 
simplicity. A flag flying at half-mast over the marble entrance was 
the only' sign of mourning. Not a strip of black drapery was in sight, 
the law decreeing that the government buildings should not be draped ni 
black. 

The faint notes of the bugle sounding the approach of the cortege 
were heard at half-past ten. "Nearer, My God, to Thee," the funeral 
anthem of the President, softly drifted in. With slow and solemn tread 
the casket was borne up the broad terrace of steps, on the shoulders of 
soldiers and marines, and placed upon the catalfaque directly under the 

dome. 

The representatives of the people ranged themselves about it. Softly 

a choir sang, "Lead, Kindly Light." 



30 ^ Life of William McKinley 

Rev. Dr. Naylor prayed in the name of the whole people. Then 
a woman's voice, tremnlous with tears, sang sweetly : "Some Time Wc 
Shall Understand.'' 

The venerable Bishop Andrews, of the Methodist Episcopal Chnrcli, 
read the scriptnral assurances of life beyond the grave. Then, fervently, 
and from his heart he spoke of the nation's dead chief as follows : 

FUNERAL SERMON BY BISHOP ANDREWS AT WASHING- 
TON, SEPT. 17. 

Bishops Andrews' patriarchal and kindly appearance, added to the 
eloquent depth of feeling manifested in every word he spoke, made a 
profound impression. 

Bishop Andrews' sermon was as follows : 

" 'Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord, who of His abundant 
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope of the resurrection from 
the dead, to an inheritance incorrui)til)le, undefiled, and that fadetli not 
away, reserved in heaven for us who are now, by the power of God 
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.' 

"The services for the dead are fitly and almost of necessity services 
of religion and of immortal hope. In the presence of the shroud and 
the coffin and the narrow home, questions concerning intellectual quality, 
concerning public station, concerning great achievements, sink into com- 
parative insignificance; and questions concerning character and man's 
relation to the Lord and Giver of life, even the life eternal, emerge to 
our view and impress themselves upon us. 

SAYS "character ABIDES."' 

"Character abides. We bring nothing into this world ; we can carry 
nothing out. We ourselves depart with all the accumulations of ten- 
dency and habit and quality which the years have given to us. We ask, 
therefore, even at the grave of the illustrious, not altogether what great 
achievement they had performed and how they had commended them- 
selves to the memory and affection or respect of the world, but chiefly 
of what sort they were ; what the interior nature of the man w-as ; what 
were his affinities? Were they with the good, the true, the noble? 
What his relation to the Infinite Lord of the Universe and to the com- 
jiassionate Savior of mankind; what his fitness for that great hereafter 
to which he had passed ? 

LOSS OF A BELOVED MAN. 

"And such great questions come to us with moment, even in the 
hour when we gather around the bier of those whom we profoundly 



Our Martyred President 31 

respect and eulogize and whom we tenderly love. In the years to come, 
the days and the months that lie immediately before us, will give full 
utterance as to the high statesmanship and great achievements of the 
illustrious man whom we mourn today. The nation already has broken 
out in its grief and poured its tears, and is still pouring them, over the 
loss of a beloved man. It is well. But we ask this morning of what 
sort this man is, so that we may perhaps, knowing the moral and spiritual 
life that is past, be able to shape the far-withdrawing future. I think 
we must all concede that nature and training and — reverently be it said 
— the inspiration of the Almighty conspired to conform a man admirable 
in his moral temper and aims. 

EMINENTLY GIFTED BY NATURE. 

"We none of us can doubt, I think, that even by nature he was 
eminently gifted. The kindly, calm and equitable temperament, the 
kindly and generous heart, the love of justice and right, and the tendency 
toward faith and loyalty to unseen powers and authorities — these things 
must have been with him from his childhood, from his infancy — but 
upon them supervened the training for which he was always tenderly 
thankful and of which even this great nation, from sea to sea, continually 
has taken note. 

BORN IN HUMBLE HOME. 

"It was an humble home in which he was born. Narrow conditions 
were around him, but faith in God had lifted that lowly roof, according 
to the statement of some great writer, up to the very heavens and per- 
mitted its inmates to behold the things eternal, immortal and divine; 
and he came under that training. 

"It is a beautiful thing that to the end of his life he bent reverently 
l)efore that mother whose example and teaching and prayer had so fash- 
ioned his mind and all his aims. 

"He was helpful in all of those beneficences and activities ; and from 
the church to the close of his life he received inspiration that lifted him 
above much of the trouble and weakness incident to our human nature, 
rmd, blessings be to God, mav we say in the last and final hour they 
enabled him confidently, tenderly to say: Tt is His will, not ours, that 
will be done.' 

OF INCORRUPTIBLE INTEGRITY. 

"Such influences gave to us William McKinley. And what was he? 
A man of incorruptible personal and political integrity. I suppose no 
one ever attempted to approach him in the way of a bribe; and we 
remember with great felicitation at this time for such an example to our- 



32 Life of William McKinley 

selves, that when great financial difficulties and perils encompassed him 
he determined to deliver all he possessed to his creditors; that there 
should he no challenge of his i:)erfect honesty in the matter. A man of 
immaculate purity, shall we say? 

HIS ESCUTCHEON UNSTAINED. 

"No stain was upon his escutcheon; no syllable of suspicion that I 
ever heard was whispered against his character. He walked in perfect 
and noble self-control. 

"Shall I speak a word next of that which I will hardly advert to? 
The tenderness of that domestic love which has so often been commented 
upon? T pass it with only that word. I take it that no words can set 
forth fully the unfaltering kindness and carefulness and upbearing love 
wdiich belonged to this great man. 

SUCCESS DUE TO MORAL QUALITIES. 

"And now may I say further that it seemed to me that to whatever 
we may attribute all the illustriousness of this man all the greatnesj of 
his achievements — whatever of that we may attribute to his intellectual 
character and quality, whatever of it we may attribute to the patient 
and thorough study which he gave to the vari(jus cpiestions thrust upon 
him for attention, for all his successes as a politician, as a statesman, as 
a man of this great country, those successes were largely due to the moral 
qualities of which I have spoken. They drew to him the hearts of men 
everywhere and particularly of those who best knew him. 

CONFIDED TO HIS HONOR. 

"They believed in him, felt his kindness, confided in his honesty and 
in his honor. His qualities even associated with him in kindly relations 
those who were his political opponents. They made it possible for him 
to enter that land with w'hich he, as one of the soldiers of the Union, 
had been in some sort at war and to draw closer the tie that was to bind 
all the parts in one firmer and indissoluble union. They commanded the 
confidence of the great body of congress, so that they listened to his 
plans and accepted kindly and hopefully and trustfully all his declara- 
tions. His qualities gave him reputation, not in this land alone, but 
throughout the world, and made it*possible for him to minister in the 
style in which he has within the last two or three years ministered U, 
the welfare and peace of humankind. 

W^ILL SUCH A MAN DIE? 

"Tt was out of the profound depths of his moral and religious char- 
acter that came the possibilities of that usefulness wliich we are all glad 




JOHN D. LONG 
Secretary of the Navy 



Our Martyred President 33 

to attribute to him. And will such a man die? Is it possible that He 
who created, redeemed, transformed, uplifted, illumined such a man 
will permit him to fall into oblivion? 

"The instincts of morality are in all good men. The divine word of 
the Scripture leaves us no room for doubt. T,' said one whom he trusted, 
'am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me, 
shall never die.' 

NOT LOST TO GOD. 

"Lost to us, but not to his God. Lost from earth, but entered heaven. 
Lost from these labors and toils and perils, but entered into the everlast- 
ing peace and ever advancing progress. Blessed be God who gives us 
this hope in the hour of our calamity, and enables us to triumph through 
Him who hath redeemed us 

"If there is a personal immortality before him let us also rejoice that 
there are an immortality and memory in the hearts of a large and ever- 
growing people, who through the ages to come, the generations that are 
yet to be, will look back upon this life, upon its nobility and purity and 
service to humanity, and thank God for it. The years draw on when 
his name shall be counted among the illustrious of the earth. 

"William of Orange is not dead. Cromwell is not dead. Washing- 
ton lives in the hearts and lives of his countrymen. Lincoln, with his 
infinite sorrow, lives to teach us and lead us on. And McKinley shall 
summon all statesmen and all his countrymen to purer living, nobler 
aims, sweeter and immortal blessedness." 

Again the comforting words and music of "Nearer, My God, to 
Thee," arose. Rev. W. H. Chapman pronounced the benediction. 
Friends in official life took their last look at the dead face, and then the 
people came. 

The rain fell nearly all the afternoon, but the croM^ds outside \vere 
undiminished. From Baltimore and Annapolis, from Harper's Ferry 
and Cumberland, from Richmond and even from cities farther a\vay, 
hundreds and thousands had come. 

Only about six thousand an hour w^ere permitted to pass through 
the doors. This went on for five hours, permitting a total of aboi^; 
thirty thousand to pass. Fully as many more were denied w'hen the 
doors were closed at six o'clock. 

Promptly at six o'clock the naval and military guard took charge 
of the President's body again. The military escort was re-formed at 
seven o'clock, and the casket was removed from the capitol to the 
Pennsylvania railroad station. 

3 



34 Life of William McKinley 

A platoon of mounted police cleared the way to the depot, and two 
troops of cavalry preceded the hearse. No members of the cabinet or 
representative members of the family were in line, but all officers of 
the army and navy in the city formed the escort. 

Soon after the body of the beloved President was placed in the 
observation car, members of the cabinet and friends of the family began 
to arrive. It was almost eight o'clock before Mrs. McKinley left the 
White House. Her carriage, surrounded by mounted police and followed 
by the immediate mourners, was driven to the lower end of the station 
to escape the crowd. Fifteen carriages were recjuired to bring the 
mourners from the White House. 

THE JOURNEY TO CANTON. 

Leaving Washington, the long, winding train bearing the remains 
of the martyred President plunged out into the dark night and began 
its mournful journey. 

The curtains of the train were drawn as it pulled out of the station, 
save only for the observation car, in which the casket lay, guarded by a 
soldier and a sailor of the republic. That car alone was flooded with light. 
The countless thousands extending from the station far out into the sub- 
urbs of the national capital, waited patiently in the drenching rain to pay 
their last farewell, thus had an opportunity to catch a last fleeting 
glimpse of the flag-covered casket as it sped by. Several thousand people 
on the bridge over the eastern branch of the Potomac, straining for a last 
look, could be seen by the lights strung along the bridge as the train 
moved under it. 

As the little villages between Washington and Baltimore were passed, 
the sound of tolling bells came faintly to the heavy-hearted mourners 
aboard. The lighted death chamber in the rear car was an impressive 
spectacle; the bier in full view, the soldier with bayoneted gun held at 
salute and the jack tar, with cutlass drawn, on guard. The light from 
the car streamed out into the darkness for many a mile. 

As the train came out of the long- tunnel leading to Baltimore, before 
reaching Union station, thousands of silent forms could be seen and 
the dismal tolling of bells could be heard. A clear bugle call sounded 
a, requiem. Plundreds of people had gained access to the train shed, and 
they gazed sorrowfully at the casket while the locomotives were being- 
shifted. The train, which had arri\ ed at 9:34 p. m.. pulled out for the 
west a few minutes later. 

Canton was ready for the last home-coming of William McKinley. 
In other days she welcomed him with cheers, waving banners and 
triumphal marches. Now she was to receive him in sorrow, the streets 
hung in black and resounding with the wailing notes of a dirge. 



Our Martyred President 35 

At eleven o'clock on the morning of September 18 the chief came 
home — for the last time. His body was borne at noon through streets 
black with crape and through lanes of sorrow-stricken people, who made 
no effort to hide their tears. The whole city seemed to be a house of 
the dead. 

There was but one moment when the silence was broken. It was 
when the funeral column crept up the street to the beat of the muffled 
drums. Softly came the strains, once again, of "Nearer, My God, to 
Thee." The thousands of men and women, standing like statues, took 
up the refrain in tear-broken whispers: 

"Nearer, my God, to Thee, 
Nearer to Thee; 
E'en though it be a cross. 
That raiseth me." 

It was a home-coming that kings might look for when their earthly 
stars set, and look for in vain. 

Out and beyond the muffled drums, the solemn strains of music and 
love for the dead, every heart went to the lone woman who had been 
taken from the funeral train, her strength almost gone, and hurried on 
ahead to the old home. 

All the afternoon upon a shrouded catafalque in a corridor of the 
courthouse lay the body of the chief. For more than seven hours a stream 
of men, women and children passed the bier. They stepped softly lest 
their footfalls wake their friend, and tears, unbidden, came to eyes that 
looked down upon those that were closed in death. 

When the doors were finally closed, there was a long line of people 
still waiting, whose wishes had to be denied. 

In accordance with Mrs. McKinley's request, the casket was removed 
to the house on Market street, where they had spent so many happy 
hours together, and where the news of his election had first come. 

During the morning, at her urgent request, she sat alone for a time 
beside the casket as it lay in the south parlor of the house. No one 
sought to lift the veil. The casket was not opened. But she was near 
the one who had ever cared for her and protected her ; near the dead for 
whom grief had burned into the soul of a country the lessons of manli- 
ness and beneficence taught by his life. 

The last ceremonies were marked with a dignity and impressiveness 
that struck dumb the tens of thousands who watched the funeral column 
make the journey from the home. 

From the south parlor of the frame house which had been his home 



36 Life of William McKinley 

for so long, the chief was borne to the First Methodist Church, with 
statesmen, diplomats and representatives of the great nations of the 
world gathered with the sorrowing members of the family. Ministers ot 
live religions denominations said the simple services. 

Troops banked the streets about, but the thousands who had crowded 
near and stood for five hours, held their places, catching up the broken 
strains of "Nearer, Mxy God, to Thee." 

The silence of calm had come; the silence of supreme excitement 

had passed. 111 

The minister was all but hidden by the mountain of flowers banked 

upon the pulpit and in tlie chancel. 

'Tt was not at him that the fatal shot was fired," he said, "but at the 
very heart of our government." 

These words brought home with crushing force the warning that 
the last scenes were passing. Among those who sat with bowed heads was 
President Roosevelt. The tears came into his eyes as he heard the peti- 
tions that God might guide his hands aright. 

REV. DR. C. E. MANCHESTER'S SERMON. 

Dr. C. E. Manchester, minister of the church in which the last rites 
were said at Canton, delivered the address. He had known William 
McKinley as a friend and as a strong man in the life of the church. His 
address brought the tears, for about him were men wdio had known this 
great, gentle man in some way. 

Dr. Manchester's sermon was as follow\s : 

"Our President is dead. 

" 'The silver cord is loosed, the golden bowl is broken, the pitcher is 
broken at the fountain, the wheel broken at the cistern, the mourners go 
about the streets.' 

" 'One voice is heard — a wail of sorrow from all the land, for the 
beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places. How are the mighty 
fallen ! I am distressed for thee, my brother. Very pleasant hast thou 

been unto me.' ..111 1 

"Our President is dead. We can hardly believe it. We had hoped 
and prayed, and it seemed that our hopes were to be realized and our 
prayers answered, when the emotion of joy was changed to one of grave 
apprehension. Still we waited, for we said : Tt may be that God will be 
gracious and merciful to us.' It seemed to us that it must be his wdl 
to spare the life of one so well beloved and so much needed. 

"Thus, alternating between hope and fear, the weary hours passed 



Our Martyred President 37 

on. Then came the tidings of a defeated science, of the failure of love 
and prayer to hold its object to the earth. We seemed to hear the 
faintly muttered words : 'Good-by all ; good-by. It's God's way. His 
will be done.' And then, 'Nearer, my God, to Thee,' 

PASSES ON TO BE AT REST. 

"So, nestling near to his God, he passed out into unconsciousness, 
skirted the dark shores of the sea of death for a time, and then passed 
on to be at rest. His great heart had ceased to beat. 

"Our hearts are heavy with sorrow. 

" 'A voice is heard on earth of kinfolk weeping 
The loss of one they love; 
But he has gone where the redeemed are keeping 
A festival above. 

"The mourners throng the ways and from the steeple 
The funeral bells toll slow; 
But on the golden streets the holy people 
Are passing to and fro. 

"And saying as they meet: 'Rejoice, another. 
Long waited for, is come. 
The Savior's heart is glad ; a younger brother 
Has reached the Father's home.' 

"The cause of this universal mourning is to be found in the man him- 
self. The inspired penman's picture of Jonathan, likening him unto the 
"Beauty of Israel,' could not be more appropriately employed than in 
chanting the lament of our fallen chieftain. It does no violence to human 
speech, nor is it fulsome eulogy to speak thus of him, for who that has 
seen his stately bearing, his grace and manliness of demeanor, his kindli- 
ness of aspect but gives assent to this description of him? 

LOVED BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM. 

"It was characteristic of our beloved President that men met him 
only to love him. They might, indeed, differ from him, but in the pres- 
ence of such dignity of character and grace of manner none could fail to 
l()\e the man. The people confided in him, believed in him. It was said 
of Lincoln that probably no man since the days of Washington was ever 
so deeply embedded and enshrined in the hearts of the people, but it is 
true of McKinley in a larger sense. Industrial and social conditions 



38 Life of William McKinley 

are such that he was, even more than his predecessors, the friend of the 
whole people. . 

"A touching scene was enacted in this church last Sunday night. The 
services had closed. The worshipers were gone to their homes. Only a 
few lingered to discuss the sad event that brings us together today. 
Three men of a foreign race and unfamiliar tongue, and clad in workmg 
garb, entered the room. They approached the altar, kneeling before it 
and before the dead man's picture. Their lips moved as if in prayer, 
while tears furrowed their cheeks. They may have been thinking of their 
own King Humbert and of his untimely death. Their emotion was elo- 
quent, eloquent beyond speech, and it bore testimony to their appreciation 
of manly friendship and of honest worth. 

SOUL CLEAN AND HANDS UNSULLIED. 

"It is a glorious thing to be able to say in this presence, with our illus- 
trious dead before us, that he never betrayed the confidence of his coun- 
trymen. Not for personal gain or pre-eminence would he mar the beauty 
of his soul. He kept it clean and white before God and man, and his 
hands were unsullied by bribes. 

" 'His eyes looked right on, and his eyelids looked straight before him. 
He was sincere, plain and honest, just, benevolent and kind. He never 
disappointed those who believed in him, but measured up to every duty 
and met every responsibility in life grandly and unflinchingly. 

"Not only was our President brave, heroic and honest; he was as 
gallant a knight as ever rode the lists for his lady love in the days when 
knighthood was in flower. It is but a few weeks since the nation looked 
on with tear-dimmed eyes as it saw with what tender conjugal devotion 
he sat at the bedside of his beloved wife, when all feared that a fatal 
illness was upon her. No public clamor that he might show himself to the 
populace, no demand of a social function was sufficient to draw the lover 
from the bedside of his wife. He watched and waited while we all 
prayed — and she lived. 

TENDER STORY OF HIS LOVE. 

"This sweet and tender story all the world knows, and the world 
knows that his whole life had run in this one groove of love. It was a 
strong arm that she leaned upon, and it never failed her. Her smile was 
more to him than the plaudits of the multitude, and for her greeting his 
acknowledgments of them must wait. After receiving the fatal wound 
his first thought was that the terrible news might be broken gently to 
her. May God in this deep hour of sorrow comfort her. May His grace 
be greater than her anguish. May the widow's God be her God. 



Our Martyred President 39 

"Another beauty in the character of our President, that was a chaplet 
of grace about his neck, was that he was a Christian. In the broadest, 
noblest sense of the word that was true. His confidence in God was 
strong and unwavering. It held him steady in many a storm where 
others were driven before the wind and tossed. He believed in the 
fatherhood of God and in his sovereignty. His faith in the gospel of 
Christ was deep and abiding. He had no patience with any other theme 
of pulpit discourse. 'Christ and him crucified' was in his mind the only 
panacea for the world's disorders. He believed it to be the supreme duty 
of the Christian minister to preach the word. He said : '^'"e do not look 
for great business men in the pulpit, but for great preachers.' 

EVER A TRUE CHRISTIAN. 

"It is well known that his godly mother had hoped for him that he 
would become a minister of the gospel, and that she believe'd it to be the 
highest vocation in life. It was not, however, his mother's faith that 
made him a Christian. He had gained in early life a personal knowledge 
of Jesus which guided him in the performance of greater duties and vaster 
than have been the lot of any other American President. He said at one 
time, while bearing heavy burdens, that he could not discharge the daily 
duties of his life but for the fact that he had faith in God. 

"William IMcKinley believed in prayer : in the beauty of it, in the 
potency of it. Its language was not unfamiliar to him, and his public 
addresses not infrequently evince the fact. It was perfectly consistent 
with his life-long convictions and his personal experiences that he should 
say at the first critical moment after the assassination approached : 'Thy 
Kingdom come; Thy ^vill be done,' and that he should declare at the last: 
Tt is God's way; His will be done.' He lived grandly; it was fitting that 
he should die grandly. And now that the majesty of death has touched 
and calmed him we find that in his supreme moment he was still a c©n- 
queror. 

CRIME PLUNGES WORLD INTO GRIEF. 

"j\Iy friends and countrymen, withtwhat language shall I attempt to 
give expression to the deep horror of our souls as I speak of the cause of 
his death? When we consider the magnitude of the crime that has 
plunged the country and the world into unutterable grief we are not sur- 
prised that one nationality after another has hastened to repudiate the 
dreadful act. This gentle spirit, who hated no one, to whom every man 
was a brother, was suddenly smitten by the cruel hand of an assassin, 
and that, too, while in the act of extending a kind and generous greeting 
to one who approached him under the sacred guise of friendship. 

"Could the assailant have realized how awful was the act he was 



40 Life of William McKinley 

about to perform, how utterly heartless the deed, methinks he would have 
staid his hand at the threshold of it. In all the coming years men will 
seek in vain to fathom the enormity of that crime. 

"Had this man who fell been a despot, a tyrant, an oppressor, an 
insane frenzy to rid the world of him might have sought excuse; but it 
was the people's friend who fell when William McKinley received the 
fatal wound. Himself a son of toil, his sympathies were with the toiler. 
No one who has seen the matchless grace and perfect ease with which 
he greeted such can ever doubt that his heart was in his open hand. Every 
heart throb was for his countrymen. That his life should be sacrificed 
at such a time, just when there was abundant peace, when all the Americas 
were rejoicing together, is one of the inscrutable mysteries of Providence. 
Like many others, it must be left for future revelations to explain. 

LIVES TO SEE A UNITED NATION. 

"In the midst of our sorrow we have much to console us. He lived 
to see his nation greater than ever before. All sectional lines are blotted 
out. There is no South, no North, no East, no West. Washington saw 
the beginning of our national life. 

"Lincoln passed through the night of our history and saw the dawn. 
McKinley beheld his country in the splendor of its noon. Truly, he dies 
in the fullness of his fame. With Paul he could say, and with equal 
truthfulness, T am now ready to be offered.' 

"The work assigned him had been well done. The nation was at 
peace. We had fairly entered upon an era of unparalleled prosperity. 
Our revenues were generous. Our standing among the nations was 
secure. Our President was safely enshrined in the affections of a united 
people. It was not at him that the fatal shot was fired, but at the life 
of the government. His offering was vicarious. It was blood poured 
upon the altar of human liberty. In view of these things we are not 
surprised to hear, from one who was present when this great soul passed 
away, that he never before saw a death so peaceful, or a dying man so 
crowned with grandeur. 

LESSONS FROM THE SAD EVENT. 

"Let us turn now to a brief consideration of some of the lessons that 
we are to learn from this sad event. 

"The first one that will occur to us all is the old, old lesson that *in 
the midst of life we are in death.' 'Man goeth forth to his work and to 
his labor until the evening.' 'He fleeth as it were a shadow and never 
continueth in one stay.' 

"Our President went forth in the fullness of his strength, in his manly 



Our Martyred President 41 

beauty, and was suddenly smitten by the hand that brought death with it. 
None of us can tell what a day may bring forth. Let us, therefore, 
remember that 'No man liveth to himself and none of us dieth to him- 
self.' May each day's close see each day's duty done. 

"Another great lesson that we should heed is the vanity of mere 
earthly greatness. In the presence of the dread messenger, how small are 
all the trappings of wealth and distinctions of rank and power. I beseech 
you, seek Him who said: 'I am the resurrection and the life; he that 
believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever 
liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.' 

"There is but one Savior for the sin-sick and the weary. I entreat you, 
find him, as our brother found him. 

"But our last words must be spoken. Little more than four years ago 
we bade him good-bye as he went to assume the great responsibilities to 
which the nation had called him. His last words as he left us were : 
'Nothing could give me greater pleasure than this farewell greeting — this 
evidence of your friendship and sympathy, your good will, and, I am sure, 
the prayers of all the people with whom I have lived so long and whose 
confidence and esteem are dearer to me than any other earthly honors. To 
all of us the future is as a sealed book, but if I can, by official act or admin- 
istration or utterance, in any degree add to the prosperity and unity of our 
beloved country and the advancement and well-being of our splendid 
citizenship, I will devote the best and most unselfish efforts of my life to 
that end. With this thought uppermost in my mind, I reluctantly take 
leave of my friends and neighbors, cherishing in my heart the sweetest 
memories and thoughts of my old home — -my home now — and, trust, my 
home hereafter, so long as I live." 

"We hoped with him that when his work was done, freed from the 
burdens of his great office, crowned with the affections of a happy people, 
he might be permitted to close his earthly life in the home he had loved. 

SADNESS OF THE IIOME-COMING. 

"He has, indeed, returned to us, but how? Borne to the strains of 
'Nearer, My God, to Thee,' and placed where he first began life's 
struggle, that the people might look and weep over so sad a home-coming. 

"But it was a triumphal march. How vast the procession! The 
nation rose and stood with uncovered head. The people of the land are 
chief mourners. The nations of the earth weep with them. But, Oh. 
what a victory ! I do not ask you in the heat of public address, but in the 
calm moments of mature reflection, what other man ever had such high 
honors bestowed upon him, and by so many people? What pageant has 
equaled this that we look upon tonight? We gave him to the nation only 
a little more than four years ago. He went out with the light of the 



42 Life of William McKinley 

morning upon his brow, but with task set, and the purpose to complete it. 
We take him back a mighty conqueror. 

'' 'The church yard where his children rest. 
The quiet spot that suits him best ; 
There shall his grave be made. 
And there his bones be laid. 
And there his countrymen shall come, 
With memory proud, with pity dumb. 
And strangers far and near. 
For many and many a year ; 
For many a year and many an age. 
While history on her simple page 
The virtues shall enroll 
Of that paternal soul.' " 

As Dr. Manchester concluded, 'We seem to hear the faintly murmured 
words, 'Good-bye. It is God's way; His will, not ours, be done.' " With- 
out the church soldiers were standing straight as statues. Thousands of 
men stood in the line of procession waiting. It was this same idea which 
held them. 

At the request of Mrs. McKinley the Rev. Father Vattman, chap- 
lain at Fort Sheridan, Chicago, made the closing prayer, which was 
both beautiful and touching. 

Then came the last stage of the journey — to the City of the Dead. 
]\Iembers of the United States senate, those who sit in the house of 
representatives, officials and citizens from every state in the union, 
soldiers, military organizations — a column of more than six thousand 
men followed the funeral car on its last journey. 

The skies were hidden by clouds of gray, l)ut not a drop of rain fell. 
The path of flagging leading to the iron-gated \a'.ilt was buried beneath 
flowers. The men of the war of forty years before passed up this road 
before th.e funeral car approached, catching up the flowers as they passed. 
Just ahead of the hearse came the handful of survivors from the Presi- 
dent's own regiment, blind with tears. They, too, gathered up the 
flowers as they passed by. 

Just without the entrance of the vault stood the new President of 
the United States. The casket rested on supports close to him. The 
members of the cal)inet formed an open line with him and members of 
the family — all save the stricken woman, who was in the home under 
Dr. Rixey's close care. 



Our Martyred President 43 

As the casket was borne to the entrance of the vault there was not a 
member of the cabinet who was not visibly affected, while several were 
in tears, with their handkerchiefs to their eyes. Secretary Root, though 
controlling himself to some degree of outward calm, was deeply moved, 
and President Roosevelt repeatedly wiped away the tears. 

Among the bystanders very few made any effort to conceal their 
emotion. It was a scene, under the cheerless gray skies and the bleak 
wind, as cold as the November days, that even all the glory of the flowers 
could not relieve — the picture of all of sorrow and desolation that death 
leaves in its wake. As the one on whom the terrible blow fell hardest 
was not there, the last agony was spared her. 

From the lips of the venerable Bishop Joyce came the benediction — • 
"Dust to dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes." 

The roar of the cannon echoed from the hillt'op just above. It came 
as a mighty amen. 

Again the white-haired minister spoke. Once again came the cannon 
crash, its reverberations beating against the hills about the city, while 
the troops stood with gleaming bayonets at salute to the dead. 

Then came "taps" — the saddest call the bugle knows, sounded by 
eight silver bugles. The last notes were held until the breath of the 
wind seemed to rob them of life. 

Away down the street, two miles away, the marching columns were 
still coming. The music of the bands, muted, it seemed, by some giant 
hand, came floating to the group about the vault — "Nearer, My God, to 
Thee." 

Once again came the thunder from the guns above. 

Then the casket was carried into the vault. Five infantrymen 
marched behind it. A moment passed, then the outer doors were closed. 

The last ceremony was over; the third martyred President of the 
United States had been committed to God and eternity. 

Slowly the marching column came about the crescent road to the left 
of the temporary tomb. Then darkness threw its veil over all, the silent 
guards took their stations, and the cemetery gates were closed. 

During the five minutes between two-thirty and two thirty-five, while 
the body of the chief was being borne from the church to the hearse, 
trafilc was stopped all over the United States. Not a wheel was turned 
upon the great railroad systems, not a wire flashed a message, not a tele- 
phone bell rang. Surely no greater tril)ute than this was ever paid to 
man. There was no sound, save Avhcn, from full hearts, came the soft 
whisper, broken by sobs : "Nearer, My God, to Thee." 

Out under the whispering oak trees of Westlawn Cemetery, in a 
vine-covered vault which is almost buried in a sloping hillside, guarded, 



44 Life of William McKinley 

day and night, by soldiers of the republic, the body of the martyred 
chief lies at rest. 

But if. out of the common sorrow, may come a greater .ove of coun- 
try, and if the red peril can be wiped from the face of the earth, William 
McKinley will not have lived — nor died — in vain. 

THE president's SURGEONS. 

The highest medical authorities concur in the opinion that all that 
surgery could do for the distinguished sufferer was done by his medical 
attendants. The New York Medical Journal says : 

'Tt is a melancholy consolation to know that the fatal termination 
of President McKinley's case was not in the slightest degree due to any 
omission to give him the full benefit of all the present resources of our 
art, and there is nothing humiliating in the fact that the favorable prog- 
nosis which for five or six days seemed justified should have finally 
proven fallacious. '^ * * It is perfectly certain that there was no 
technical fault in the operation, and it may be said with equal positive- 
ness that it would have verged on madness to prolong the search for the 
bullet after it had been ascertained that it had not inflicted any very 
grave injury beyond that of the stomach — ascertained, that is to say, 
within the limitations of w^arrantable efforts." 

Sir James Crichton Browne, the eminent English surgeon, said at a 
gathering of prominent medical men in London, September 28, he was 
confident he was expressing the unanimous opinion of the British med- 
ical profession when he declared that the surgeons who attended the late 
President of the United States showed the utmost skill at every stage. 
A power more than human would have been required to save the life 01 
the nation's wounded chief. 



CHAPTER III. 
Expressive Tributes From Foreign Lands. 

Morning had scarcely dawned for the night watchers keeping the last 
vigil beside the coffin of the murdered President, 4,000 miles away, when 
Londoners were already assembled by the thousands around Westminster 
Abbey to attend the memorial services of America's dead President. 

The venerable palace of the dead was all too small to contain half 
of those seeking admission. Every ticket printed had been bespoken a 
dozen times over. At the American embassy over night, up to an hour 
before noon, applicants still clamored for the coveted pasteboards, many 
striving even to accompany the officials from the embassy toward the 
abbey in hope of being admitted among the crowd. 

Around the doors, where tickets were not needed, a throng gathered 
two hours before the doors opened sufficient to fill the entire abbey. 
All were in deep mourning. Indeed the outburst of black clothing sur- 
passed anything seen here excepting only on the death of Queen Victoria. 

CHURCH FILLS RAPIDLY. 

The solemn passing bell of Westminster tower still had half an hour 
.to toll before the service began, when the stream of notable persons who 
were admitted through the dean's yard slowly filed to their places in 
the choir. One of the first to arrive was former Vi^e President Levi P. 
Morton, accompanied by his wife and family. They were quickly fol- 
lowed by Lord Pauncefote and his family. 

Sir William Colville, royal master of ceremonies, found the chancel 
hal'f filled before he could take up the duties he voluntarily assumed of 
marshaling people into their places. Mr. Synge, C. M. G. B., assistant 
marshal of ceremonies, who also volunteered to assist the embassy offi- 
cials, acted for the nonce as usher in conducting distinguished arrivals 
to their places. 

The lord steward of the household, Lord Pembroke, represented the 
king. Next to him sat the United States ambassador, Mr. Choate; Sec- 
retary White and other members of the embassy. Colonel Alfred M. 
Egerton, equerry of the Duke of Connaut, represented the Duke and 
Duchess of Connaut; Major James E. Martin, equerry of Prince Chris- 
tian, represented the Prince and Princess Christian of Schlesvvig-Hol- 

45 



46 Life of William McKinley 

stein. The secretary for war, William St. John Brodrick, and the 
undersecretary of the foreign office, Lord Cranhorne, were present, and 
the other cabinet ministers were represented. 

ALL LANDS REPRESENTED. 

The British ambassador to the United States, Lord Pauncefote; the 
Russian ambassador to Great Britain, M. de Stael; the Danish 'min- 
ister, M. de Bille, and the Turkish ambassador, Costaki Anthopulo 
Pasha, were also present, with members of all the legations, including 
the consul general of Monaco, Lord Rosebery; the lord chief justice, 
Baron Alverstone ; Baron Revelstoke, Baron Mount Stephen, Sir Williair 
and Lady Vernon Harcourt and the agents general of twenty British 
colonies were there. 

The boom of the abbey bell announcing midday was faintly audible 
within the abbey as the organ broke the hushed silence with the funeral 
march by Tschaikowsky, which merged later into Chopin's more familiar 
dirge. 

Away in the distant nave were heard the voices of the famous abbey 
choir chanting in sad minor, 'T am the resurrection and the life," the 
vast congregation rising as the strains floated upward and rose and 
fell in mournful harmony, filling the lofty edifice to the uttermost crev- 
ices of the distant roof and anon falling gently as autumn rain on the 
ears of the somber-clad listeners. 

Slowly, silently, the procession of suri)]iced choristers moved nearer 
up the nave and under the oaken screen di\'iding the choir from the body 
of the cathedral. 

GRIEF IN THE REFRAIN. 

* 

The voices of the singers grew more distinct with every step until 
the words of the refrain, "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away," 
struck a responsive sigh in every heart. As the singers filled each side 
of the choir stalls the clergy, escorted ]3y vergers with crape-covered 
staves, proceeded into the sanctuary itself. 

The venerable dean of Westminster Abbey had taken his place in 
the chancel, surrounded by the clergy, when the congregation, standing, 
prepared themselves to pour forth their feelings in "Nearer, ]\Iy God, to 
Thee," which henceforth will forever be associated with President Mc- 
Kinley's dying moments. 

But here occurred the only jar in the solemn service. A great portion 
of the congregation, being Americans, naturally expected the old famil- 
iar chant, which is regarded almost as America's national anthem. 
Instead of this, however, the organist played the English version, by 



Our Martyred President 47 

t 

Rev. J. B. Dykes, a tune quite foreign to American ears. For a few 
moments the effect was most painful alike to those wishing to sing as 
to others who were merely listeners. 

GAVE WAY TO TEARS. 

After trying weakly to join in unison with the choir, giving to the 
time-worn words the unfamiliar sounds, the greater portion of the con- 
gregation abandoned the attempt, while many unbidden tears were shed 
and bespoke the helpless sorrow of those to whom the relief of song was 
denied. 

Sullivan's exquisite anthem, "Yea, Though I Walk From the Light of 
the World," rendered by the choir, went far to soothe the mourners for 
the absence of congregational singing, wdiile the spectacle of the vener- 
able dean reading the lesson — a gray-haired old man whose feeble voice 
was barely audible within a short radius of the chancel rail — recalled 
the last occasion when he had officiated at a funeral service there, namely 
when Mr. Gladstone was laid to rest among the historic dead within 
the abbey. 

But by far the most impressive moment of the service was the short 
])ause f(^r silent prayer in liehalf of the widow and family of the late 
President. 

SOLEMN IIUSII OVER ALL. 

As the great organ's note, like a deep sigh, faded into solemn silence, 
the last jarring clang of the chimes outdoors momentarily punctured 
the stillness as though for a record of passing time. Then a hush fell 
upon the densely thronged church and for fully five minutes every head 
was bowed in silent prayer — hushed and silent as the unnumbered dead 
who sleep beneath the abbey stones. 

It was an awful, soul-inspiring moment. One could not help recalling 
the scene five years ago, at St. Louis, when at the mention of the name of 
McKinley 10,000 men had cheered like half-demented savages for half 
an hour by the clock. 

Some of those present on that occasion were even now kneeling with 
bowed heads, their subdued attitude beneath the abbey's towering roof 
being more expressive of genuine feeling than the wildest cheers and 
frantic flag-waving in that memorable yellow pine board convention hall. 

Faintly, as if apologizing for disturbing the eternal commune be- 
tween the living and the dead, the organ broke the silence, while the 
choir almost imperceptibly added their voices to the refrain, 'T Heard a 
Voice From Heaven." 



48 Life of William McKinley 

OFFICE FOR THE DEAD. 

For the remainder of the service the sacrist recited the prayers, the 
choir organ again sang an anthem, the dean pronounced the benediction 
and the congregation stood while the dead march in "Saul" was played. 
But during all this and as the choir and clergy slowly filed out the mem- 
ory of that impressive pause lingered. 

Even when Mr. Choate, standing beneath the screen at the end of the 
nave, received the silent greetings of the distinguished mourners, their 
mute salutation was but a repetition of the greeting to the illustrious 
dead during that awful pause, 

A similar service was held at St. Paul's Cathedral in the afternoon, 
attended by 6,000 persons. 

SORROW OF THE PRESS. 

The London morning papers again appeared with black borders and 
long accounts of the ceremonies in Canton and of memorial services and 
tributes throughout the world. The editorials generally comment upon 
the widespread sympathy evoked. "Seldom, if ever," says the Standard, 
*'has a common sorrow found expression in so many lands." 

The Daily News finds "this spontaneous manifestation of mourn- 
ing-" deeply suggestive and impressive, being paralleled only at the 
death of Victoria. 

Several London theaters were closed September 19. Those remain- 
ing open witnessed some remarkable demonstrations. The programmes 
began wath the dead march in "Saul," the audiences standing. At the 
leading variety houses the "Star Spangled Banner" was also played, 
and was received with ringing cheers and shouts of "Down with an- 
archists." At a concert in Queen's Hall Sir Arthur. Sullivan's "In 
Memoriam" overture and Tchaikowsky's "Pathetique Symphonie" were 
played in memory of Mr. McKinley. 

All the American business houses in London were closed, and the 
managers and employes attended the memorial services at various 
churches. On many English houses the shades were half drawn and 
flags, draped in crape, Avere at half-mast. 

At the request of members of the stock exchange and other business 
men in the city, a memorial service was held in the Church of St. Law- 
rence Jewry. The church was crowded. 

Mr. Choate, the American ambassador, sent the following telegram 
to King Edward at Fredensborg: 

"Your majesty's telegram of the 14th has deeply affected Mrs. Mc- 
Kinley in this hour of her sore affliction, and I am charged to convey 




JOHN HAY 
Secretary of State 



Our Martyred President 49 

to your majesty, in her name, her grateful acknowledgment and thanks 
for your sympathy, which was so thoughtfully bestowed." 

"The following was received from the King at the embassay: 
"Please convey to ]\Irs. jNIcKinley my best thanks for her kind mes- 
sage. The Queen and I feel most deeply for her in the hour of her 
great affliction, and pray that God may give her strength to bear her 
heavy cross. Our thouglits will today be especially wdth the American 
nation when its distinguished President is laid at rest. Edward R." 

Queen Alexandra has wTitten an autograph letter of sympathy and 
condolence to Mrs. IMcKinley. 

SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM. 

Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain attended the memorial service in Bir- 
mingham. There w'as also a big demonstration in that city in connec- 
tion with the Wesleyan conference, when resolutions of sympathy and 
condolence were adopted after the crime of Czolgosz had been charac- 
terized in terms of deepest abhorrence. 

Lord Lansdowne, the foreign secretary, intimates through the press 
his regret that illness prevented him from attending the memorial ser- 
vice in Westminster Abbey. 

Mr. Choate, in his letter of apology for absence from the King Alfred 
millenary commemoration at Winchester, due to the death of President 
McKinley, says : "The sympathy expressed in a perfect avalanche of 
telegrams from all parts of the British dominion, is most touching." 

T. p. O'cONNOR^ IN A LONDON SOCIETY PAPER, RECALLS HIS PLEASANT 
IMPRESSIONS OF THE LATE PRESIDENT. 

Mr. O'Connor paid eloquent tribute to the character, abilities and sim- 
plicity of the dead President, concluding as follows : 

"The career of McKinley was typically American. It is, indeed, 
Americanism at its best. Even the murmured words of the church hymn 
which were among the last things uttered by the dying lips — even that 
is typically American, too. 

"Amid all the riot, blare and deafening noise of a country bursting 
with the abounding vitality and defiant strength of its gigantic youth, 
America is in its foundation a country of tranquil, sober. God-fearing 
homes. Every individual American mourns in simple William McKinley 
the sweetness, wholesomeness and faithful affection and enduring fidelity 
of the typical American citizen — the true American man and husband, the 
true x\merican wife and the typical American home." 



50 Life of William McKiniey 

REDMOND EXPRESSES SORROW FOR IRELAND. 

John Redmond, the Irish leader, cabled to Theodore Rooseveh : "In 
the name of the Irish nationalist party I send an expression of deepest 
sympathy. Ireland abhors the dastardly crime." 

THE LONDON TIMES. 

This great newspaper has given an account of the assassination in an 
article of forty thousand words. It says : 

"The king has commanded that the court shall wear mourning for one 
week for the late President of the United States." 

Referring to the death of Queen \^ictoria the Times continues : 

"In our grief the hearts of our American kin were with us, and we 
tenderly cherish the memories of the alleviation which our knowledge 
that it was so brought us in our woe. Today it is they who are stricken, 
and, from one end of the empire to the other, the subjects of the King of 
England extend to our brethren the sympathy they so loyally, so gener- 
ously and so earnestly extended to us. The British people share to the 
full the thoughts and sentiments expressed with touching dignity in the 
proclamation in which President Roosevelt appoints the day when the 
body of his predecessor is committed to the grave shall be kept as a day of 
solemn mourning and prayer throughout the republic. 

CHURCH BELLS TOLLED IN CANADIAN CITIES. 

The proclamation of the Governor General, setting apart September 
19 as a day of mourning throughout Canada in recognition of the fact 
that the obsequies of the late President jNlcKinley were taking place, 
did not become generally known until the morning of that date. In 
Ottawa the banking institutions, leading business houses, the govern- 
ment offices and public institutions immediately closed. 

A 'union memorial service was held at noon. Flags on the parlia- 
ment buildings and on all pul)lic Iniildings and private flagstaffs were 
half-masted, the American flag being particularly noticeable throughout 
the city. The signs of mourning were general and sincere, even amid 
all the excitement of preparations for the rece])tion of royalty. 

Throughout the Dominion as in Ottawa the reports indicate a very 
general observance of the day, in com]^liance with Lord Minto's procla- 
mation. In some of the Canadian cities bells were tolled at the hour 
set for the burial, and ever}^ public demonstration of mourning was 
made so far as the suddenness of the proclamation would allow. 

DUKE OF YORK SYMPATHETIC. 

As a sympathetic tribute to the memory of President McKinlev, the 
Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York refrained from participa- 



Our Martyred President ri 

lion in public functions, and limited their movements to a round of 
visits to religious,, charitable and educational institutions, including 
McCiill University, where each received the honorary degrees of doctot" 
of laws. 

FINE DEMONSTRATION IN CITY OF MEXICO. 

The American colony held a memorial service in honor of the late 
President McKinley at lo o'clock, September 19, in Orrin's Theater, the 
largest available building. United States Ambassador Powell Clayton 
presided. President Diaz and the entire cabinet and diplomatic corps 
attended. The great building was swathed in black crape and pro- 
fusely lighted with electricity. 

SANTIAGO CITIZENS MOURN IN THE RAIN. 

A memorial service was held at 10 o'clock, September 19, at the 
Oriental 'idieater in honor of the late President McKinley. The hall 
is the largest auditorium in the city, and it was packed with people. All 
the American ofticers wore full uniform and side arms. 

A troop of cavalry from Morro Castle, the civil and municipal offi- 
cers, the foreign consuls, the judges, students from the state institutions, 
employes of the sanitary department, the entire American colony and 
thousands of Cubans of all classes were present, notwithstanding the fact 
that it was raining heavily. 

Hundreds were unable to gain admission and remained outside in 
the drenching rain throughout the services, which consisted of addresses 
made by prominent Americans and Mayor Bacardi. The theater was 
draped inside and out with flags and black cloth. All public and private 
business was suspended for the day. 

PORTO RICO. 

Appropriate memorial services were held in every town 
of Porto Rico. The gathering at the theater in San Juan was very 
large. The most prominent speakers, representing all parties, deliv- 
ered addresses of eulogy and sympathy, which were received in mourn- 
ful silence. 

GERMANY. 

GERMAN EMPEROR SHOWS GRIEF. 

When Emperor William heard of the death of President McKinley 
he immediately ordered the German fleet to half-mast their flags and to 
hoist the stars and stripes at their maintops. 

Emperor William sent the following dispatch : 
"To Mrs. McKinley. Buffalo: 

"Her IMajesty the Empress and myself beg you to accept the expres- 
sions of our most sincere sorrow in the loss which you have suffered by 



52 Life of William McKinley 

the death of your heloved husband, felled by the ruthless hand of a 
murderer. May the Lord who granted you so many years of happiness 
at the side of the deceased grant you strength to bear the heavy blow 
with which he has visited you. "William, I. R." 

Emperor William also sent the following dispatch to Secretary Hay: 
"I am deeply affected by the news of the untimely death of President 
McKinley. I hasten to express the deepest and most heartfelt sympath> 
of the German people to the great American nation. Germany mcnu-ns 
with America for her noble son, who lost his life while he was fulfilling 
his duty to his country and people. "William, I. R." 

^lemorial services were held in the American chapel at noon Septem- 
ber 19 in honor of the late President McKinley. All the imperial and 
Prussian cabinet ministers were present, except the imperial chancellor, 
Count von Buelow, who is absent from Berlin. He was represented by 
Privy Councillor von Guenther. 

All the foreign ambassadors and ministers in Berlin attended the 
service, and many of the attaches and secretaries of the diplomatic 
corps were present. Prince Leopold of Solms-Baruth, as the repre- 
sentative of Emperor William, occupied the seat of honor. 

The chapel was decorated with draped American flags and was 
crowded to its fullest capacity with members of the American colony. 
Rev. Dr. Rickie preached the memorial sermon. 

]\Iemorial services were held in \'arious German cities. Those in Dres- 
den attracted a large attendance of the highest official society and the 
Anglo-American colony. The King of Saxony and the royal princess 
were represented by their respective court marshals, and among those 
present were the members of the Saxon cabinet, representatives of the 
diplomatic corps and the various consulars, and Mrs. White, wife of the 
United States ambassador to Germany. Addresses of sympathy were 
presented by Herr von Metzsch-Reichenbach, Saxon minister of foreign 
affairs, and by the mayor of Dresden. 

At Munich the ser\ices were held in the i^.Iarkuskirche. The prince 
regent was represented by his chief master of ceremonies. Count von 
Moy. A number of the members of the cabinet and representatives of 
the diplomatic corps, together with many British residents, were present. 
^Nlrne. Nordica sang. 

The service at Stuttgart was held in the English church, and was 
attended by Dr. Von Breitling, the premier, and representatives of all the 
legations. 

At Cologne the Anglo-American colony held a meeting in the English 
chapel. 




ETHAN A. HITCHCOCK 
Secretary of the Interior 



Our Martyred President 53 

The executive committee of the BerUn bourse cabled an expression 
of profound sympathy to the New York Stock Exchange. 

PARIS. 

National rejoicings in connection with the Czar's visit suffered a 
brief but impressive interruption in Paris when Americans, English 
and French of all classes Hocked to Holy Trinity Church to take part in 
the AlcKinley memorial service. The ceremony was announced for 3' 
p. m., but long before the appointed hour the church was packed to 
suffocation, with the result that -Ministers Dupuy and Caillaux, who rep- 
resented the government, together with several prominent members of 
the diplomatic corps, experienced the utmost difficulty in fighting their 
way to the seats reserved for them. Others became impatient and left 
the porch of the church, disgusted at their vain efforts to obtain ad- 
mittance. 

The immediate surroundings of the church were thronged with 
large crowds unable to obtain admission yet desirous of showing their 
sympathy by remaining in the vicinity of the building. Inside, the altar, 
gallery and pulpit were decorated with the usual mourning. The bril- 
liant uniforms of the diplomatic corps alone lent relief to the scene so 
imposing in its sadness and simplicity. The great majority of the 
audience was in black. The ladies were attired in deepest mourning. 

Rev. M. Morgan officiated. Ambassador Porter, with the entire 
staff of the United States embassy, the British ambassador and Sir Ed- 
mund Monson and his staff were present. Lieutenant Colonel ]\Ieaux 
Saint-]\Iarc represented President Loubet. The singing of the late 
president's favorite hymns created a deep impression, many ladies being- 
moved to tears. The ceremony lasted three-quarters of an hour and 
will be remembered as one of the most touching scenes witnessed in a 
Paris church for many years. 

ST. PETERSBURG. 

Under the auspices of the United States ambassador, Charlemagne 
Tower, impressive memorial services in honor of President ]\IcKinley 
were held at 3 o'clock September 19 in the British American Church. 
The pastor. Rev. Alexander Francis, officiated, assisted by Drs. Kean, 
Kilburn and Key. 

Among those present were the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovitch, 
the Grand Duchess :\Iaria Pavlovna and the Grand Duke Boris Vladi- 
mirovitch, their son, and the Grand Duke Serge Michaelovitch. The 
diplomatic corps was represented by the British ambassador, Sir Charles 
Scott, the only ambassador besides Mr. Tower now in St. Petersburg ; the 
ministers to Russia and Orieste Nicholas Vassilieff, formerly of Ansonia, 



54 Life of William McKinley 

Conn.; the United States ambassador and his entire staff, the United 
States consul, Mr. Hallow-ay; the United States vice-consul, Mr. Hey- 
decker, and practically all the resident Americans and many British sub- 
jects were also present. 

The prominent Russians in attendance included Prince Obolenski, 
representing- the foreign office, and two directors of that oftice; the 
Russian minister of the interior, M. Sipyaguin ; the assistant minister of 
the interior, M. Stichiniski ; Vice-Admiral Tyrtoff, General- Rydzeffsky, 
General Kleigel, the prefect of police; Prince Jules Ouroussoff and a 
number of other high officials. 

The services consisted of readings from the scriptures and hymns, 
closing with the playing of a dead march. 

RUSSIAN PRESS ON m'kINLEY. 

The tone of the Russian press was uniformly sympathetic with the 
American people in their bereavement and uniformly just in estimating 
Mr. McKinley's character. The Novo Vremya says: 

"He was a man of large talents and a beloved son of the country 
for whose welfare he unceasingly and successfully labored." 

The Sviet says: "Let us hope that the death of a talented and 
energetic president will rouse those lands which for the sake of free- 
dom of conscience and thought harbor bad elements and become the 
breeding grounds for plots to action against the enemies of civilization." 

The Boerse Gazette says : 

"Mr. McKinley was one of the most popular figures in American 
history and one of the best representatives of American ideals. Society 
is defenseless against the propaganda of murder. It is scarcely prob- 
able that means will be found to prevent the repetition of such crimes." 
The semiofficial Journal of Commerce and Industry says : 

"Mr. McKinley was not an extreme protectionist. Shortly before 
his death he spoke out against crude trust protection." 

BRUSSELS. 

The memorial service in Christ Church this morning was largely 
attended. A feature was the singing of "Nearer, My God, to Thee." 
Both the king and queen were represented by high officials. 

MOURNING IN VIENNA. 

Memorial services were held at the American Church September 19 
at the same time as the funeral took place in Canton. The master of the 
household represented Emperor Francis Joseph. The Prince of Leichen- 
stein. Counted Goluchowski, and the minister of foreign affairs, Dr. 
Koeber, were in attendance. 



i 



Our Martyred President 55 

AGUINALDO REGRETS LOSS TO THE NATION. 

Aguinaldo wrote to Civil Governor Taft and Military Governor 
Chaffee saying that he regrets, with the rest of the American nation, 
the great loss suffered by the people of the United States in the death of 
President McKinley. 

SERVICES AT COLON, COLOMBIA. 

An impressive memorial service in honor of the late President 
AIcKinley was held at the Anglican Church here September 19, and was 
attended by Commander McCree and the officers and men of the United 
States gunboat Machias, the United States consul, Mr. Malmros; the 
Colombian officials, the consular corps^ the members of the American 
colony and many prominent citizens of all nationalities. 

SORROW IN COPENHAGEN. 

The half-mastings of flags here as a token of sympathy with the 
United States and respect for the memory of President McKinley was 
general September 19. The Danish, British and Russian warships in 
the harbor fired salutes. Portraits of the late president, draped with 
black, were displayed in many windows. 

MOURNING IN INDIA BOMBAY. 

September 19 was observed as a day of general mourning for Presi- 
dent McKinley throughout India. All the public offices, banks and stores 
w^ere closed. Services were held at all the central cities. 

EXERCISES AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 

The memorial service at the British embassy chapel at Therapia 
in honor of the late President McKinley was attended by all the chiefs 
of the diplomatic mission in full uniform, including Sir N. R. O'Conor, 
the British ambassador, and Lady O'Conor, and John G. A. Leishman, 
the United States minister, and his staff; United States Consul-General 
C. M. Dickinson, representatives of the sultan and the Porte, and the 
papal delegate, Monsignore Bonati. 

SALUTES FIRED AT GIBRALTAR. 

All the flags were half-masted at noon, September 19, and the channel 
squadron, the United States training ship Alliance, the German training 
ship Charlotte and the land batteries fired a salute of twenty-one guns 
in honor of the late President IMcKinley. All the ships are flying the 
American ensign half-mast at the main, and the American ensign is flown 
half-mast throughout the British fleet. 



56 Life of William McKinley 



BERLIN PRAYS FOR MRS. M KINLEY. 

The church at which the services in memory of President McKinley 
were held September 19 was crowded with Germans and Americans. 
The kaiser personally, and the governmenj; also, were represented by high 
dignitaries. A special prayer was read for Mrs. McKinley. The church 
was elaborately decorated with liowers, flags and crape. 

EXERCISES AT ROME. 

A memorial service for President McKinley was held at the American 
Methodist Episcopal Church at 3 o'clock.. All the members of the Amer- 
ican embassy and consulate were present, as well as the entire Italian cab- 
inet, who were in full dress and were accompanied by under secretaries. 
All the American residents attended, and there were generals, admirals, 
representatives in parliament and diplomats in the congregation. Pro- 
fessor Wright delivered the sermon. 

SERVICES HELD IN THE LEGATION AT PEKING. 

Memorial services in honor of the late President McKinley were held 
at the United States legation. Among those present were the mem- 
bers of the diplomatic corps and the military officials in full uniform, 
the members of the American colony, and Prince Ching and other 
Chinese officials. The Spanish minister. Senor de Cologan, dean of 
the diplomatic corps, tendered the sympathy of the diplomatists. Minis- 
ter Conger thanked him in behalf of the American people. 

IMPRESSIVE SERVICES IN THE PHILIPPINES. 

There were impressive civil, military and naval observances in honor 
of the late President McKinley. The mourning was universal. Most 
of the business houses were closed. 

After a service at the palace, the military escorted the civil officials 
to the Luneta, where all the available troops, sailors and marines w^re 
assembled, and paid honors to the late President in the presence of 
thousands of spectators. The fleet at Cavite saluted. 

Chief Justice Arellano in an address said all the Filipinos abhorred 
the crime, and that the death of the great and good President would 
cement the friendship of Americans and Filipinos. Priests in many 
parts of the archipelago conducted services in honor of the dead. The 
churches were crowded. 

VENEZUELA SHOCKED BY THE BELATED NEWS. 

Owing to the interruption of cable communication, the news of 
the death of President McKinley was delayed in reaching here 



Our Martyred President 57 

Senor Blanco, the minister of foreign affairs, at once communicated his 
regrets to Minister Bowen, and all the foreign ministers at Caracas called 
officially and expressed their sympathy and regrets. 

President Castro wrote a letter to Mr. Bowen, saying that Venezuela 
is mourning the late President and expressing horror at the deed. The 
President also ordered three days' mourning, with half-masted flags, and 
begged Mr. Bowen to convey his regrets to Washington, which was 
done. 

Caracas was shocked by the news of the President's death, the 
latest reports received here pointing to Mr. McKinley's recovery. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Tributes from Eminent Americans. Homage of a Great 

City. 

CLEVELAND LAUDS LATE PRESIDENT. 

All formal exercises at Princeton University were suspended on 
September 19, and at 11 o'clock memorial exercises were held in Alex- 
ander Hall. The faculty and board of trustees attended the exercises 
in their gowns without their hoods. The big hall was filled with 
students and visitors, as the faculty, led by former President Cleveland 
and President Patton, slowly filed up the aisle to the rostrum.^ President 
Patton opened the exercises with, prayer, read the forty-sixth psalm, 
made a few remarks eulogizing the late President, and introduced Mr. 
Cleveland, who was visi])ly afl:'ected, and, with tears in his eyes, eulogized 
the dead President. Mr. Cleveland said, in part: 

"Today the grave closes over the man that had been chosen by the 
people of the United States to represent their sovereignty, to protect 
and defend their constitution, to faithfully execute the laws made for 
their welfare, and to safely uphold the integrity of the republic. 

"He passes from the pul)lic sight not bearing the wreaths and gar- 
lands of his countrymen's approving acclaim, but amid the sobs and tears 
of a mourning nation. The whole nation loved their President. His 
kindly disposition and aft'cctionate traits, his amiable consideration for 
all around him, will long be in the hearts of his countrymen. He loved 
them in return with such patriotism and unselfishness that in this hour 
of their grief and humiliation he would say to them : Tt is God's will : I 
am content. If there is a lesson in my life or death, let it be taught to 
those who still live and have the destiny of their country in their keeping.' 

NOT DUE TO EDUCATION. 

"First in my thoughts are the lessons to be learned from the career 
of William McKinley by the young men who make up the students today 
of our university. They are not obscure or difficult. The man who is 
universally mourned today was not deficient in education, but with all 
you will have of his grand career and his services to his country, you will 
not hear that what he accomplished was due entirely to his education. He 



58 



Our Martyred President 59 

was an obedient and affectionate son, patriotic and faithful as a soldier, 
honest and upright as a citizen, tender and devoted as a husband, and 
truthful, generous, unselfish, moral and clean in every relation of life. 

"He never thought any of those things too weak for his manliness, 
]\Iake no mistake. Here was a most distinguished man — a great man, a 
useful man — who became distinguished, great and useful because he had, 
and retained unimpaired, qualities of heart which I fear university 
students sometimes feel like keeping in the background or abandoning. 

"There is a most serious lesson for all of us in the tragedy of our 
late President's death. If we are to escape further attacks upon our peace 
and security we must boldly and resolutely grapple with the monster 
of anarchy. It is not a thing that we can safely leave to be dealt with 
by party or partisanship. Nothing can guarantee us against its menace 
except the teaching and the practice of the best citizenship, the exposure 
of the ends and aims of the gospel of discontent and hatred of social 
order, and the brave enactment and execution of repressive laws. 

"The universities and colleges cannot refuse to join in the battle 
against the tendencies of anarchy. Their help in discovering and warring 
against the relationship between the vicious councils and deeds of blood 
and their steadying influence upon the elements of unrest cannot fail 
to be of inestimable value. By the memory of our martyred President, 
let us resolve to cultivate and preserve the qualities that made him 
great and useful, and let us determine to meet the call of patriotic duty 
in every time of our country's danger or need." 

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. 

"The horrible deed at Buffalo, rudely breaking the ties of family and 
friendship and horrif}'ing every patriotic citizen, crowns a most extraor- 
dinary life with a halo that cannot but exalt its victim's place in history, 
while his bravery during the trying ordeal, his forgiving spirit and his 
fortitude in the final hours give glimpses of his inner life which nothing 
less tragic could have revealed. 

"But in expressing, sad as it is, the death of IMcKinley. the illustrious 
citizen, it is the damnable murder of McKinley, the President, that melts 
seventy-five million hearts into one and brings a hush to the farm, the 
factory and the forum. 

"Death is the inevitable incident of every human career. It despises 
the sword and shield of the warrior and laughs at the precautions 
suggested by science. \\^ealth cannot build walls high enough or thick 
enough to shut it out, and no house is humble enough to escape its 
visitation. Even love, the most potent force known to man: love, the 
characteristic" which links the human to the divine,' even love is powerless 



6o Life of William McKinley 

in its presence. Its contingency is recognized in the marriage vow, 
'Until death do us part,' and is written upon friendship's ring. 

"But the death, even when produced by natural causes, of a public 
servant charged with the tremendous responsibilities which press upon a 
President, shocks the entire country and is infinitely muhiplied when the 
circumstances attending constitute an attack upon the government itself. 

''No one can estimate the far-reaching effect of such an act as that 
which now casts a gloom over our land. It shames America in the eyes 
of the world; it impairs her moral prestige and gives enemies of free 
government a chance to mock at her, and it excites an indignation which, 
while righteous in itself, may lead to acts which will partake of the spirit 
of lawlessness. 

"As the President's death overwhelms all in a common sorrow, so it 
imposes a common responsibility — namely, to so avenge the wrong done 
to the President, his family and the country as to make the executive life 
secure without interfering with the freedom of speech or freedom of the 
press." 

Mr. Bryan treated of the i)arting of husband and wife at Buffalo, 
saying : 

"The dispatches report that ^Irs. McKinley took a seat at the bedside 
and held the President's hand; the distinguished sufferer looked into the 
face of his good wife and said in a low tone : "We must bear up. It 
will be better for us both." With tears streaming down her cheeks, Mrs. 
McKinley nodded assent. 

"There may be some people who have no idea of the thoughts that 
were passing through the minds of this couple at that moment. There 
are, however, others who can imagine what these thoughts were. 

There on the bed of pain lay the strong, powerful man ; by his side sat 
the frail woman, whose physical weakness has been for some years the 
subject of this husband's tender solicitude. In a humble way they began 
life together. Two little graves had for them a common interest. In 
prosperity and adversity they had stood together, participating in the joys 
and sharing all sorrows of life. 

CARDINAL GIBBONS PRAISES m'kINLEY. 

Memorial services were almost universal on September 19 throughout 
Maryland, many congregations meeting and uniting in other than their 
own places of worship. Perhaps the most important and impressive were 
the ceremonies at the cathedral in this city, at which Cardinal Gibbons 
delivered the following eulogy : 

"It has been my melancholy experience, in the course of my sacred 
ministry, to be startled by the assassination of three Presidents of the 






U^-,^..^.^frVXBt:JS^.J^^,.: 




JAMES WILSON 
Secretary of Agriculture 



Our Martyred President 6i 

United States. A':raham Lincoln was shot in 1865, James A. Garfield 
was mortally wounded in 1881, and William McKinley received a fatal 
wound on the sixth day of September. Mr. Lincoln was shot in a 
theater; Mr. GarfieM was shot while about to take a train to enjoy a 
needed vacation, and our late beloved President fell by the hand of an 
assassin while lending the prestige of his name and influence to the 
success of a national exposition. 

"In the annals of crime it is difficult to find an instance of murder so 
atrocious, so wanton and meaningless as the assassination of Mr. McKin- 
ley. Some reason or pretext has been usually assigned for the sudden 
taking away of earthly rulers. Baltassar, the impious king of Chaldea, 
spent his last night in reveling and drunkenness. He was suddenly 
struck dead 1)y the hand of the Lord. 

"How different was the life of our chief magistrate! No court in 
Europe or in the civilized world w^as more conspicuous for moral recti- 
tude and purity, or more free from the breath of scandal, than the 
official home of President McKinley. Pie would have adorned any court 
in Christendom by his civic virtues. 

"The Redeemer of mankind was betrayed by the universal symbol of 
love. If I may reverently make the comparison, the President was 
betrayed by the universal emblem of friendship. Christ said to Judas : 
'Friend, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss ?' The President could 
have said to his slayer : 'Betrayest thou the head of the nation with the 
grasp of the hand?' He was struck down surrounded by a host of his 
fellow citizens, every one of whom would have gladly risked his life in 
defense of his beloved chieftain. 

"Few Presidents were better equipped than Mr. McKinley for the 
exalted position which he filled. When a mere youth he entered the 
Union army as a private soldier during the Civil War, and was promoted 
for gallant service on the field of battle to the rank of major. He served 
his country for fourteen years in the halls of congress, and toward the 
close of his term he became one of the most conspicuous figures in that 
body. He afterward served his state as governor. 

"As President he was thoroughly conversant with the duties of his 
office, and could enter into its most minute details. His characteristic 
virtues were courtesy and politeness, patience and forbearance, and mas- 
terly self-control under very trying circumstances. WHien unable to grant 
a favor, he had the rare and happy talent to disappoint the applicant 
without offending him. 

"The domestic virtues of Mr. McKinley were worthy of all praise. 
He was a model husband. Amid the pressing and engrossing duties of 
his official life he would from time to time snatch a few moments to 



62 Life of William McKinley 

devote to the invalid and loving partner of his joys and sorrows. Oh, 
what a change has come over this afflicted woman ! Yesterday she was 
the first lady of the land. Today she is a disconsolate and broken- 
hearted widow. Let us beseech him who comforted the widow of Nain 
that he c()ns(.)le this woman in her hours of desolation. 

"It is a sad reflection th:tt some fanatic or miscreant has it in his 
power to take the life of the head of the nation and to throw the whole 
country into mourning-. It was no doubt this thought that inspired some 
writers within the last few days to advise that the President should hence- 
fourth abstain from public receptions and hand-shaking, and that greater 
protection should be given to his person. 

"You might have him surrounded with cohorts, defended with bayo- 
nets, and have him followed by argus-eyed detectives, and yet he would 
not be proof against the stroke of the assassin. Are not the crowned 
heads of Europe usually attended by militar}^ forces, and yet how many 
of them have perished at the hand of some criminal ! No ; let the Presi- 
dent continue to move among his people and take them by the hand. 

LOVE IS HIS STRONGEST SHIELD. 

"The strongest shield of our chief magistrate is the love and devotion 
of his fellow citizens. The most effective way to stop such crimes is to 
inspire the rising generation with greater reverence for the constituted 
authorities, and a greater horror for any insult or injury to their person. 
All seditious language should be suppressed. , Incendiary speech is too 
often an incentive to criminal acts on the part of many to whom the tran- 
sition from words to deeds is easy. 

'Let it be understood, once for all, that the authorities are determined 
to crush the serpent of anarchy whenever it lifts its venomous head. 

"We have prayed for the President's life, but it did not please God to 
grant our petition. Let no one infer from this that our prayers were in 
vain. No fervent prayer ascending to the throne of heaven remains 
unanswered. Let no one say what a woman remarked to me on the 
occasion of President Garfield's death : 

" T have prayed,' she said, 'for the President's life. My family 
have prayed for him, our congregation prayed for him, the city prayed 
for him, the state prayed for him, the nation prayed for him, and yet he 
died. WHiat, then, is the use of prayer?' 

GOD ANSWERS ALL PR.-WERS. 

"God answers our petitions either directly or Indirectly. If he does 
not grant us what we ask he gi\'es us something equivalent or better. If 
He has hot saved the life of the President, He preserves the life of the 



Our Martyred President 6^ 

nation, which is of more importance than the Hfe of an individual. He 
has infused into the hearts of the American people a greater reverence for 
the head of the nati(jn, and a greater a])horrence of assassination. 

"He has intensified and' energized our love of country and our devo- 
tion to our political institutions. What a beautiful spectacle to behold 
pn-.yers ascendinj from tens of thousands of temples throughout the 
land to the throne of mercy. Is not this universal uplifting of minds 
and hearts to God a sublime profession of our faith and trust in Him? 
Is not this national appeal to Heaven a most eloquent recognition of 
Gcxl's su])crintending i)nn-idence over us? And such earnest and united 
prayers will not fail to draw down upon us the blessings of the Almighty. 

"The President is dead. Long live the President! William McKinley 
has passed away, honored and mourned by the nation. Theodore Roose- 
velt succeeds to the title, the honors and the responsibilities of the presi- 
dential office. Let his fellow citizens rally around him. Let them uphold 
and sustain him in bearing the formidable burden suddenly thrust upon 
him. May he be equal to the emergency and fulfill his duties with credit 
to himself, and may his administration redound to the peace and pros- 
perity of the American people." 

ARCHBISllOI' IRELAND SPEAKS WITH SORROW. 

Archbishop Ireland was the principal speaker at the public memorial 
service in St. Paul, Minn. He addressed fifteen thousand persons at the 
Auditorium, saying in part : 

"America mourns. From sea to sea the hearts of the people are rent, 
and their lips tremble into words of sorrow and regret. And in sympathy 
with America the world mourns. William McKinley is dead, motionless, 
voiceless, powerless. All is over with him save the memory of his passage 
through life. Death is dreadful in its savage mastery over man. Amer- 
ica, afi^righted, bows before its resistless scepter. 

"Needless to praise William McKinley. The universal, the unexam- 
pled outpouring of love going forth from the people of America speaks- 
with all-sufficing eloquence. Greatness and goodness were indeed 
er.twined around the name, else the name would not stir up, as it does, 
into deepest emotions the hearts of a whole people. 

"Oh, God of Nations, has it come to this, that we must ask ourselves 
whether liberty is to be allov\^ed on earth, such as we have worshiped in 
our dreams and sought to embody in the institutions of America ? But 
God reigns, and liberty will reign. Not against liberty must we unsheath 
our swords, but against license, that daughter of hell which drapes itself 
in the robes of the daughter of heaven and dares call itself liberty." 



64 Life of William McKinley 

SENATOR SHELBY M. CULLOM. 

"The death of President McKinley is one of the saddest events in 
American history. Sad not only on account of liis great value to the 
country and the community in which he lived, and to his enfeebled wife, 
but sadder still on account of the manner of his taking off. I do not feel 
tliat I can talk about his death. It seemed to me that it could scarcely 
be tolerated, or that it can be true, that President McKinley is dead. 
Why any human being could feel that he could afford to slay such a 
man is more than I can understand. 

"President McKinley had a heart for all the oppressed. There was 
not a fiber of his nature that did not harmonize with the great body 
of people of the country and of the world. He was more notably, and 
l^ositively and earnestly, the friend of the people than perhaps any Presi- 
dent we have ever had. President Lincoln had a great heart, and his soul 
was full of sympathy for the oppressed. President Garfield was full of 
generosity, kindness and interest for the great masses of the people, but 
President McKinley seemed to be even more continually interested in 
the welfare of his country and of the common people tlian either of them, 
and yet it falls to his lot to be foully, cowardly and sneakingly stricken 
down by a villain claiming to be doing what is in \the interest of the 
country. 

"It is not the time now, however, to say very rnuch on the subject, 
but one cannot refrain from saying that unless this government shall 
adopt some vigorous measures for the protection of its high officials, no 
good man will be willing to occupy the position now just made vacant by 
the death of President McKinley. 

CAPITAL IN MOURNING. 

Washington joined in the nation's funeral day tribute to William 
McKinley. All public offices and many private business houses were 
closed at the time fixed for beginning the funeral service at Canton; street 
cars on all lines were stopped for five minutes ; there was a general 
suspension of work, and all thoughts turned to Canton, where the last 
offices of his church were being said over him whom Washington knew 
not only as the President of the United States, but as William McKinley 
the man. 

Memorial services were held in the churches of all denominations, 
and Jew and Gentile, Roman Catholic and Protestant joined in their 
tribute to those qualities of the dead chief magistrate which endeared him 
to the professors of all religions. 

At All Souls' Unitarian Church, after Commissioner of Labor Carroll 




p. C KNOX 
Attorney General 



Our Martyred President 65 

D. Wright had spoken of the Hfe of the dead President and the lessons 
to be learned from it, Secretary of the Navy John D. Long delivered a 
brief address. 

TRIBUTE OF SECRETARY JOHN D. LONG. 

Secretary Long said that as a member of the congregation and as one 
of the President's official household it was his duty to express before that 
congregation his appreciation of President McKinley's exemplary Chris- 
tian life. 

"Our mourning is great," Secretary Long said, "but our mourning 
for his death should be less than our gratitude for his life. It is fitting 
that all denominations of the Christian church are one in the recognition 
of his virtues and the examples of his life. His was a life of modesty 
and virtue, typical of the best that is in American manhood. 

"Mr. Wright has spoken of McKinley's bright-eyed boyhood; of the 
sweet home influence of his mother and father, whose teachings were 
never forgotten ; of his eager schoolboy days, of his career as a soldier — 
a soldier distinguished by his readiness to risk his life in carrying succor 
to his comrades; of his legal and political triumphs; of his service in 
congress, and of his career as President. His was an administration 
more significant than any since the time of Lincoln, with whom he ranks. 

WAS A MAN OF PEACE. 

"But amid all the strenuous strife and turmoil of the last war it is as 
a man of peace that we think of McKinley. The residents of Washington 
will mourn less the death of the statesman than the passing away of the 
fellow citizen. It is for his many traits of kindness that he was dearly 
loved. The lawyer, the statesman, the President, are revered and appre- 
ciated, but his simple human qualities cause McKinley to be loved most. 
His greatest impulse was always to do all in his power to make his fellow 
men better and happier." 

JUSTICE DAVID BREWER. 

Justice David Brewer of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
who was one of the speakers at the First Congregational Church, spoke 
of the popular demand that the anarchists must go. He said in part : 

"What shall we do? Many things are suggested. On every side we 
hear strong language expressive of the public horror at the crime. 'An- 
archists must go; anarchism must be stamped out.' Some are eager to 
take the law into their own hands and deal out summary justice upon all 
who bear the odious name. They would rejoice to see every anarchist 
speedily put to death. 



66 Life of William McKinley 

"Others are demanding that new legislation be enacted, while execu- 
tives and legislators are declaring that in the coming winter they will see 
to it that laws are passed to drive anarchism from our borders, I may 
not discuss the terms of proposed legislation, as no one foresees either 
what it may do or what questions may prise out of it. 

"But there are lessons to be drawn from the assassination of President 
McKinley by an anarchist which I wish to notice. One which should be 
borne home to every citizen of the nation, whether in or out of office, is 
the necessity of a personal respect for law. We denounce the assasination 
as a horrible crime. We denounce anarchism as the spirit of lawlessness 
and its followers as outlaws because they look upon all forms of govern- 
ment as wrong and all men in office as their enemies. 

"But while anarchism may be the extreme of lawlessness, and 
anarchists the worst of outlaws, ever}' breaking of the law breathes, 
though perhaps in a slight degree, the same spirit of lawlessness. Exam- 
ple is better than precept, and every one may well remember that he does 
something toward checking the spirit of lawlessness and preventing the 
spread of anarchism when, in his own life, he manifests a constant and 
willing obedience in letter and spirit to all the mandates of the law. 

"Again, the anarchist declares that all government is wTong. He 
professes to be the enemy of all rulers. Social institutions, as they are, 
he denounces, pleading that they are unjust and oppressive. Now, if the 
workings of the social order are made such as to insure justice and peace 
and comfort to all, slow^ly the spirit of anarchism will disappear, for all 
will feel that society as it exists is a blessing rather than a curse to them. 

WORK MUST BE DONE. 

"And each one of us may in his place and life help to make all those 
workings of society cleaner and better, gentler and purer — more helpful 
to those who need, less burdensome to those who toil and richer in all 
things to all men. 

"If the American people shall not spend all its energies in denuncia- 
tion of this awful crime, or in efforts by force to remove anarchism and 
anarchists from our midst, but, moved and touched by the sad lesson, 
shall strive to fill the social life with more sweetness and blessing, then 
will it be that William McKinley, great in life, will become, partly on 
account of the circumstances of his death, greater and more influential 
in the future; an enduring blessing to the nation of which he w^as the 
honored ruler." 

AMERICANS IN FRANCE ADOPT RESOLUTIONS. 

By invitation of General Horace Porter, the United States ambassa- 
dor, the resident and traveling Americans met at his residence to adopt 



Our xMartyred President 67 

resolutions on the assassination of President McKinley. The attend- 
ance was niunerous, including many ladies dressed in mourning. General 
Porter presided at the meeting. Senator Lodge, Secretary Vignaud and 
Consul-General Gowdy were the vice-presidents. 

General Porter, in feeling terms, announced the purpose of the meet- 
ing. Senator Lodge, in moving the adoption of the resolutions, elo- 
(luently outlined the career of the late President and his administration. 
The senator alluded in grateful terms to the touching manifestation of 
sympathy shown by the people of Paris and France at the sorrow of 
the American republic. The following resolution was voted: 

"William AIcKinley, President of the United States, is dead. He 
was an eminent statesman, soldier and patriot, and a great chief magis- 
trate, whose administration will stand out as one of the most eventful 
and illustrious in American history. He has fallen at the zenith of his 
fame, in the height of a great career, by the hand of an assassin. The 
enormity of the w^anton crime, measured by the grievous loss, has brought 
sorrow to the republic and all her citizens. 

"W'e, i\mericans, now in Paris, desire to make a public record of the 
feeling which at this hour of grief we share with all our countrymen. 
With them we unite in profound sorrow for the untimely death of Presi- 
dent iMcKinley, as well as in admiration of his character as a man and his 
great i)ubHc services, which have Ijrought so much honor to the republic. 

"We wish to declare our utter abhorrence of the foul crime to which 
I 'resident McKinley fell a victim and of the teachings which produced it. 

"To her whom the President gave a lifelong devotion as pure as it 
was beautiful, we offer our deepest, heartfelt sympathy. 

"To President Roosevelt, called so suddenly and under such sad 
conditions to the presidency, we present our sincere and respectful sympa- 
thy, and would also express our generous confidence, in the hope and 
belief that his administration will redound to his own honor and to the 
general welfare of our country. 

"We are profoundly grateful to the president and people of our sister 
republic for their quick sympathy and touching expressions of condolence 
at this moment of great national sorrow of the United States." 

THE REV. DR. H. W. THOMAS. 

"In these great hours of a nation's distress we have forgotten our 
debates, and the one thing heard from all our hearts is that our martyred 
President was a good man ; that he loved the people, loved his country, 
loved God. and was trying to lead in the ways that he and the majority 
of the people thought best." 



68 Lite of William McKinley 

EX-CONGRESSMAN GEORGE E. ADAMS. 

"President McKinley had a habit of leaning on public opinion. It 
has been called a weakness. It may be a weakness in a reformer or a 
prophet. But in a president it is strength, as Lincoln knew. For being 
slow to go to war, in the recent affair with Spain, he was brutally 
denounced by those who are his eulogists today. In holding back the 
government from war until he felt sure that the people insisted on war, 
the President acted as a friend of peace and obeyed the letter and the 
spirit of the constitution. 

"McKinley's Buffalo speech, his last message to his countrymen, he 
could not have made ten years ago. It is more than a lesson in eco- 
nomics. It teaches that an American statesman must have an open, 
receptive mind. He must be willing to be taught by events. His polit- 
ical wisdom is to ascertain and express the sober second thought of the 
people." 

FATHER KELLY PRAISES m'kINLEY. 

The Rev. Father Kelly, chaplain of the Seventh Regiment, pro- 
nounced a beautiful eulogy at the great Auditorium meeting in Chicago. 
Father Kelly, among other things, said : 

"The universal and heartfelt sorrow in the untimely death of our 
noble President is ample evidence of the Christian and manly virtues 
which have placed him in the esteem and affection of his fellow men. 
The more good a man does in this world to the greater honor and glory 
of God and for the benefit of God's children — his neighbors — the more he 
is esteemed and the more general is the grief when the hand of death is 
laid upon him. 

"Judging by this standard, great must have been the moral worth 
and magnificent beyond compare the acts of kindly brotherhood per- 
formed by our lamented President during his life. His qualities as Presi- 
dent, as husband, and as man, can stand the searchlight of any scrutiny, 
and W'ill leave their impression on the pages of our history. 

"McKinle^^s standard of manhood was not measured by dollars. His 
ideal was not arrogance of power and authority. Imbued with these 
high ideals and living up to them in public and private life, he never 
worshiped at the shrines of the false gods of modern progress and avarice 
He never believed that the end justified the means. He never did a 
wrong that good might follow, but strove on all occasions to follow the 
laws of the Great Ruler — 'do good and fear no one.' " 

PRESIDENT ANGELL, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 

"The title that is most likely to come to our martyred President is 
that of 'The Well Beloved.' Washington had a dignified severity that 



Our Martyred President 69 

left a space between himself and the people. Lincoln was loved by only 
half the nation when he died. The old animosities between the North 
and South had not expired when Garfield passed away. But since 
McKinley came into office the blue and the gray have been united. He 
won the hearts of the southern people and cemented a nation. 

"His was the average American life in a glorified form. He was 
pure, simple, genial and kind. So long as he dominated our affairs he 
could be dealt with by foreign powers with sincerity, and this is the 
secret of the great influence of this nation in the administration of for- 
eign affairs." 

ANDREW D. WHITE, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY. 

"President McKinley undoubtedly will pass into the history of the 
United States as one of the great Presidents. None of his predecessors 
ever showed so broad and thorough a knowledge of the main questions 
relating to our industry and commerce. 

"On all subjects in these fields he showed not merely talent but 
genius. A high evidence of this was given in his speech at Buffalo just 
before he was shot. Having done more than any other to build up the 
great industries of the nation, he then and there showed how new markets 
could be found and how our industries could be made more effective in 
multiplying our relations with other powers. 

"During his lifetime, in the heat of partisan strife, he was charged 
with being devoted to the interests of capital, but when viewed hereafter 
by the historian it certainly will be seen that his care for the interests 
of capital was the result of his devotion to labor and to the deepest 
interests of the plain people, from whom he sprang. He knew that the 
interests of capital and labor cannot be disassociated. Never has a 
President planned more wisely or toiled more earnestly for the laboring 
man." 

ADDRESS OF SENATOR HOAR AT WORCESTER. 

Senator Hoar made the principal address at the memorial in Wor- 
cester. He said in part : 

"The voice of love and sorrow to-day is not that which conieth 
from the lips. Since the tidings came from the dwelling at whose 
door all mankind was listening, silence, the inward prayer, the quiver- 
ing lip, the tears of women and bearded men have been the token of 
an affection which no other man left alive has inspired. 

"This is the third time within the memory of men not yet old that 
the head of the republic has been stricken down in his high place by 
the hand of an assassin. Each of them was a man of the people. 

"We shall. I hope, in due time, soberly, when the tempest of grief 



70 Life of William McKinley 

has passed by, tind means for additional security against the repetition 
of a crime like this. We shall go as far as we can without sacrificing 
personal liberty to repress the doctrine w^iich in effect is nothing bui 
counseling murder, 

"We shall also, I hope, learn to moderate the bitterness of political 
strife, and to avoid the savage attack on the motive and character of 
men who are charged by the people with public responsibilities in high 
places. This fault, while I think it is already disappearing from ordi- 
nary political and sectional controversy, seems to linger still among 
our scholars and men of letters. 

"The moral is, not that we should abate our zeal for justice and 
righteousness, our condemnation of wrong, but only that we should 
abate the severity of our judgment of the motives of men from whom 
we differ." 

TRIBUTE OF m'kINLEY's COMRADES. 

As a last tribute to their bclcjved President, who was borne to his 
final resting place on September 19, the Grand Army Hall and Memorial 
Association of Chicago adopted fitting resolutions which are eulogistic 
of the life of that noble statesman and strongly condemnatory of the 
outbursts of anarchy, whose adherent made a martyr of the nation's 
chief. The resolutions were framed and presented by a committee 
composed of Francis A. Riddle, Judge Richard S. Tuthill, Charles 
Fitz Simmons, W. L .B. Jenney and John C. Black. 

The memorial as it was unanimously adopted follows : 

"William IMcKinley, the twenty-sixth President of the United States 
of America, was cruelly slain on the 6th day of September, 1901. 

"The universal grief caused by the malicious deed which took from 
the world this good, wise, courageous and lovable man is sincerely shared 
by the members of the Grand Army Hall and Memorial Association 
of Illinois. We come, as loyal citizens of our beloved republic, to this 
temple dedicated to patriotism, recognizing the authority as well as the 
necessity of human government, with an unfaltering trust in the supreme 
reign of moral laws and in the final triumph of righteousness throughout 
the earth in this hour of humiliation and grave anxiety, deepened by 
inexpressible sorrow, to manifest our loving regard for a departed com- 
rade, to emphasize our unmeaslired respect for one who was lately 
the honored and beloved chief magistrate of the nation, to acknowledge 
the priceless benefits which have resulted to our common country from 
the faithful services of an exalted character, and to express our sense 
of indignation for the malign influences and malevolent purposes which 
led to the most inexcusable and villainous assassination known in tlic 
history of civilized man. 



Our Martyred President 71 

"To speak in praise of McKinley would be only to utter exclama- 
tions of gratitude for benefactions which flow from a virtuous life. In 
everything which centers in the fabric of a great and good character, the 
life and career of William McKinley furnishes one of the brightest and 
noblest examples. 

"As patriot, soldier, citizen, statesman and Christian man he leaves 
to his country and to the world a record and a fame among the most 
illustrious and exalted of all those who, by the exercise of courage, 
wisdom, patience and integrity, have achieved the highest stations in 
human affairs with the sole purpose of promoting the w^elfare of their 
country and their kind. 

"His name and his fame will be alike imperishable, and in the rec- 
ord of the good deeds of one human life, the leaves wdiich go to make 
up his will be unsurpassed either in brilliancy or in mimber. He was 
by nature a strong, earnest, lovable and loving man. He inherited 
integrity of purpose, vigor of mind, far-sighted wisdom and a clean 
heart. 

NATION MOURNS HIS LOSS. 

"All else that goes to make up his distinguished career and to crown 
the years of his life with unfading glory was won by him in the wide 
field open to all human endeavor. And so great was his success, so 
fascinating was his unique career that in his life all righteous men the 
world over appreciated and honored his exalted character, recognized 
his unexampled power, and felt his une(iualed and salutary influence in 
the affairs of men. And in his death the nation mourns, and the people 
weep for one who was beloved. And so at last, 'having served his own 
generation, he fell .sleep.' 

"But looking back upon the record of our country for the past forty 
vears, we feel it our imperati\-e duty to pledge anew our fealty to the 
government and institutions which, in common with our stricken com- 
rade in arms, we helped, as citizen soldiers of the republic, to preserve. 
And now, as citizens marching with uncovered heads beneath the flag 
of our country, so greatly loved and honored, and so highly advanced 
by William ]\IcKinley, and having no thought or hope or wish but that 
the rights, liberties and privileges of the American citizen shall be 
adequately protected, we call upon all those in authority to hearken unto 
the impressive lesson of the sad event w^hich calls us tog'ether here. 

NO PLACE FOR ANARCHY. 

"The rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are inaliena- 
ble. Thev are the necessarv incidents of evevx Imman lieing, and for 



72 Life of William McKinley 

the purpose of protecting all men in the enjoyment of these priceless 
blessings guaranteed by the constitution of our country, the government 
which we honor and respect was instituted by the fathers of the nation. 
That government and all the sacred purposes for which it was created 
we cherish, but the spirit and purpose of all those who would destroy 
or subvert its objects, cripple or restrain its pow-ers, molest or murder 
its lawful officers and servants, we denounce and condemn to the utter- 
most. Anarchy has no right, legally or morally, to hide its monster 
head beneath our flag and live. 

"The spirit of anarchy originates in sin, feeds on hate, fattens on 
revenge, and revels in infamy. Its teachings and its acts alike arc 
criminal. Its teachers and its disciples have no motive but destruction, 
and their sole aim is to blot out civilization and crush forever all sem- 
blance of social order and individual right. 

SHOULD BE DRIVEN OUT. 

"A community of anarchists is a den of vipers, and its breath is the 
poison of death to everything among men that is pure, holy, ^weet, 
tender, righteous and merciful. The vicious spirits who could suggest 
or compass the hideous deed perpetrated at Buffalo on September 6 
have no right either in life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. 

"The freedom of speech and the liberty of the press do not imply 
license to destroy the government by which alone free speech and a free 
press may be maintained, and the ])eople of the United States have the 
right and the power under the constitution to drive out and forever 
prevent ' all associations, combinations and conspiracies of malign 
individuals whose sole aim is to promote vice, commit crime and destroy 
the foundations of social order." 



MANKIND AT SALUTE. 
I. 

Where meets the touch of lips — 

Where closes clasp of hand — 
Where sail the stately ships— 

Where blooms each flowering land; 
Where palm and pine trees shed 

Their balm of bough and leaf, 
A world bends low its head 

In brotherhood of grief. 



Our Martyred President 73 

Out of the distance, infinite, vast — 

Echo of myriad marching feet — 
Riseth a prayer when all is past : 

"Take him, O God : his life was sweet." 

II. 

Where sultry sun beats down — 

Where shining ice-fields gleam — 
Where pathless forests frown — 

Where languid islands dream : 
Mankind stands at salute 

Wherever thought has birth; 
A universe is mute, 

A dirge goes round the earth. 

Out of the distance — mystical, tender — 
Whispered appeal to forever endure — 

Riseth a prayer to the Great Defender : 
"Take him, O God : his life was pure." 

III. 

Where breathes a clown or king — 

Where prince and pauper stride — 
Where races sigh or sing — 

Where woe or pomp abide : 
Downcast and soft of tread, 

Churl, statesman, beggar, slave, 
Walk for a moment with the dead — 

A world weeps at a grave. 

And out of the distance, falling, falling — 
Murmured appeal for the martyred dust — 

Cometh the jirayer of the nations calling: 
"Take him, O God : his life was just." 
— Harold Richard Vynnc, in Chicago Inter Ocean. 

A STRIKING COINCIDENCE. 

On September 20, 1881, the Methodist Ecumenical Conference was 
in session in London, when the news of President Garfield's death was 
announced. Prayers were offered for the departed President's family 
and for the American republic. Tributes of respect were passed by the 



74 Li^e of William McKinley 

delegates to the meniury of the martyred executive. On Wednesday, 
September 7, 1901, the Methodist Ecumenical Conference was holding 
its services when the dastardly act of the assassin of President McKin- 
ley was made known. Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett, D. D., of the 
African Methodist Episcopal church was the presiding officer. 

Bishop Arnett was a personal friend of Mr. McKinley, and one of 
his most ardent admirers. In his address he said : 

"A sad calamity has befallen our nation and befallen the civilized 
world. The President of the United States, WilHam McKinley, is a 
man who exemplifies in his life the Christian religion, and also the prin- 
ciples of Methodism. A Christian from early manhood, he has pro- 
ceeded through all the mazes of our political life, and he stands to-day 
without a stain on his character or his fame. We feel that we ought 
to give expression to our sentiment, and to express our sympathy in this 
hour." 

Bishop Galloway, of the ]\Iethodist Episcopal church (South) said: 

"I wish I could command my feelings this morning so that I could 
speak what is in my heart. How profoundly grateful we are, as breth- 
ren of the other side of the sea and citizens of the United States, for the 
sentiments that have been expressed by our brethren here. We remem- 
])er twenty years ago when our President was stricken down by the 
bullet of an assassin, how earnestly you prayed for his recovery, and we 
remember that your gracious (|ucen laid a wreath -of flowers upon hi.- 
coffin, and this whole nation followed at his bier and joined us in weep- 
ing over the loss of our honored dead. I speak for the southern section 
of my great country — that section which was once separated from our 
brethren in the north by clashing interests and then by an ever-to-be- 
lamented war. I have long been glad that there was a star on our 
national flag that answers to the name of jMississippi. my native state. 
I live in the state of Jefi^erson Davis, who will go down to history as the 
chief of a lost cause. I am sure there is not a citizen in that great com- 
monwealth to-day, nor has there been for many years, that has not re- 
joiced that we have been restored as a union, that we are all members 
of the same great national family, that we sit at the same bountiful 
board, and are all equally members in our Father's house. We cannoi 
forget that others have done so much to bring us close together, nor 
forget the years of stormy war: we cannot forget the words spoken by 
this noble Christian President, who, in visiting our southern section 
not many months ago, and addressing those who had borne arms against 
the great principles which he thought to be right, desired that all the 
memories of that struggle should be wiped away from the feelings of 
our countrymen, and he suggested that the graves of the Confederate 



Our Martyred President 75 

soldiers sliould be protected and decorated by the government, along 
with those which contained the fallen on the Federal side. We at thi^ 
conference talked yesterday about peace. William McKinley was the 
incarnation of peace. But above everything else he illustrated those 
private and domestic virtues which have made our country great, and 
which make all civilization great. 

"Our President has been stricken down, for whose precious life we 
so pray. Great as a statesman, distinguished as a leader, lofty in his 
patriotism, devoted, not only as a citizen of our great country, but of our 
Methodism — we know^ how he has illustrated these virtues in turninfif 

o 

away from the cares of state to minister during her illness to the noble 
woman who has walked by his side so long. The country that has pure 
homes and pure fathers and husbands must be a great country. Wc 
reciprocate these kindly expressions from cur brethren on this side of 
the sea." 

ORDER OF LOY.AL LEGION. 

Acting Secretary of War Sanger received the following announce- 
ment from General Schoheld : 

"Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States — Command- 
er y in Chief: 

"PiiiLADELPiiiA, V\., Sept. 14. 1901. — I. The commander in chief 
announces with feeling of the deepest sorrow that the president of the 
United States, Companion jNIajor William jNIcKinley, was assassinated 
at Buffalo, N. Y., on Sept. 6, 1901, and died at Buffalo, N. Y., Sept. 
14, 1901. 

"2. Appropriate action expressive of the nation's great loss and of 
our bereavement will be taken by the commanderies of the order at the 
first meeting after the receipt of this circular. 

"3. The colors of the commanderies will be draped for a period of 
ninety days. 

"Lieutenant General John M. Schofield, 

"U. S. A., Commander in Chief. 
"John P. Xicholson, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, U. S. V., 
"Recorder in Chief." 

silence, the hushed and solemn tribute of a great city. 

Five minutes of silence in Chicago, minutes when all the world 
seemed dumb and motionless. That was the sum and crown cf Thurs- 
day's somber ceremony. It was 2 :30 o'clock when the whirr of the citv 
ceased suddenly as if some unseen hand had fallen upon it. The raucous 



76 Life of William McKinley 

clangor of rushing wheels and harsh gongs stopped, the dull rumble of 
unseen engines ceased, and in the crowded streets, where multitudes of 
men and women stood watching the solemn pageantry, a stillness so 
profound and perfect fell that the city seemed dead and ghostly, its 
smokeless buildings and its voiceless pavements, like the towers and 
vistas of a lost Atlantis. 

The pause was so brief and utter that it is not possible to describe 
or forget it. Nature was at the moment in one of those moods that 
is eloquent of silence. The clouds hung low and gray. No breeze 
murmured in the high places, and from tower and spire and staff the 
flags drooped sullen and listless. The floor of the lake was leaden 
and still. 

When the moment of silence came, great steamers bound for port 
or pointed toward the further shore stopped their throbbing engines 
and lay adrift. Fast trains rushing toward the city paused and stood 
still. Street cables stopped, electric currents were shut off from flying- 
trolleys, and rumbling elevated trains became fixed and soundless. 

Even the voice of funeral bells tolling in the residence districts of 
Chicago fell faint and far during that five minutes of silence. There 
was no breeze to bear the dull thunder across the city, and so it was 
heard in the downtown streets vaguely as an echo. 

But it was the silence of the million people who surged in the street 
that was most eloquent. Pushing in counter currents in every thorough- 
fare within the loop, jostling and murmuring, calling to friends among 
the marchers and spectators, crooning the sad measures of funeral 
march or hymn, the swarming sea of humanity made a murmur that 
rose dully even above the blare of bands and the tramp of marching 
feet. At ]\Iichigan avenue and Van Buren street, as the parade swept 
slowly past, there was almost a bedlam of unpremeditated disorder. 
The streets were choked from wall to wall. A tide of new spectators 
was rushing in from the tributary streets, the line of march was clogged 
again and again. In vain the mounted police and patrolmen charged 
upcMi the throng. Women shrieked and grew faint in the maelstrom 
and men seemed to be fighting for place of escape. It was in the midst 
of this bedlam that a tall horseman in the parade suddenly reined 
his horse. 

He doffed his helmet and, waving it above the turbulent crowd, 
shouted "Hats off!" 

At once the sea of struggling men and women became calm. They 
stood transfixed and silent in their places. Hats withdraw^n were held 
across hearts, and women bowed their heads in silent prayer. The 
murmurs died away. The cannon that was booming a President's salute 



Our Martyred President 77 

spoke no more. The trumpets hushed the funeral fanfare, the muffled 
drums were still. The men with arms stood at salute like statues. The 
long column halted. And the wordless panegyric which then became 
eloquent for five full minutes seemed to have more meaning in it than 
all the rhetoric, and all the music, and all the black and purple mourn- 
ing trappings that the world had lavished upon the memory of the 
great dead. As by some incomparable sympathy the multitude seemed 
to know that at that moment the grave at Canton was closing forever 
upon the murdered President, that the ultimate time had come for 
memory, and tears and prayers. 

When the clock showed that the half-hour was five minutes old, 
the sound of singing voices coming from the balcony of the Chicago 
Club intoned the first line of "Nearer, Aly God, to Thee." Quavering 
at first and thin, the chant arose. One by one the men arid women in 
the streets took up the chorus, till the volume of song, piercing and 
strong by very contrast with the late silence, rose into mighty diapason 
of melody that was vocal with sorrow, worship and hope. Along the 
marching column the bands caught the spirit of the stately hymn, and 
the wave of music that swelled in unison then was like the sound of a 
great "Amen." 

The whole character of the day's ceremonial in Chicago was marked 
by the most extraordinary decorum. It spoke in the subdued voices 
of the people, and shone in the grave little faces of the children. The 
lowering skies added to the somber aspect of the city, and the sad or 
spiritual motive of the music enhanced the meaning of the demonstra- 
tion with a rare and exquisite tenderness. 

An hour before the funeral pageant had passed away a gentle rain 
began to fall in fitful showers. The wind sprang up again and whistled 
dismally among the wires. But the crowds, steadfast in their quiet 
sorrow, remained in their places till the last rank had passed. 

INCIDENTS ILLUSTRATING THE DEPTH OF FEELING THAT MARKED THE 
DAY AS OBSERVED IN CHICAGO. 

When the moment for silence came the vacant presidential carriage 
halted under the windows of the Chicago Club. When the word was 
given to move forward again and the carriage started on the journey 
through the lane of loving hearts the thousands about the starting 
point gazed on a spectacle that in its significance and wonderful les- 
son can never be forgotten by any who saw it. The Eighth regiment 
of the Illinois National Guard, consisting of colored troops, was pre- 
ceded by its own band, the members of which were only a few feet 
away from the empty carriage. All about and behind them in process 



78 Life of William McKinley 

of formation were tlie old warriors of the Confederacy and the Union. 
The band had been ordered to play "Nearer, My God, to Thee." In- 
stead these black men, guided by some inspiration that seemed to seize 
them and catch up in its embrace the tens of thousands within their 
hearing, swung forward to the strains of "Dixie." It was too much 
for hearts already full to overflowing, and the pent-up feeling found 
vent in a long subdued cheer, a cheer of blent pain and delight, an un- 
graven epitaph flung out to heaven in memory of the martyr whose 
acts had made such an incident possible. It was the only moment of 
all that long march that a cheer was heard from the hundreds of thous- 
ands in the down-town streets. But it was a cheer and a prayer blended, 
a benediction and not a sacrilege. 

In a secluded little spot in the southeast cornor of the federal build- 
ing square is perched a small silk flag at half-mast. It floats from the 
spot where President William McKinley stood more than a year ago 
when with fitting words he laid the cornerstone of that immense structure. 
It is a lonely little spot and entirely hidden from view of the street by 
the high board fence which incloses the grounds. The only thing 
that marks it is the little block of masonry upon which the dead Pres- 
ident stood when he made his brief address. Yet this event remained 
fast in the memories of a little group of workmen who listened with 
intense interest to his sincere words at that time and marveled that such 
a man should not be the choice of the whole people. 

Early in the morning from the windows of adjoining buildings 
these same men could be seen trailing to this memorable spot to plant 
their last emblem of true love to the memory of their beloved Presi- 
dent. Later in the afternoon, when Chicago was as silent as a new 
village and the remains of William McKinley were being borne to their 
last earthly resting place in Canton, they knelt around the little flag 
in silent prayer and for minutes not a word was spoken aloud by any 
of them. Then they arose and left the yard in different directions. 

An incident of the five minutes of silence was the cessation of all 
Inisiness by the Postal and Western Union Telegraph companies dur- 
ing that time. At 2 :t,o o'clock, as the last march to the grave was 
started at Canton, word was sent to the central offices of the com- 
panies in Chicago and to all branch offices, and the great systems 
became silent. No message was sent or received for five minutes, and 
the throbbing wnres were as dumb as if the motive power had been 
destroyed. Operators who a few minutes before were working the 
telegraph keys to send messages of great or minor importance to all 
parts of the country sat motionless in their chairs. It was the first 
time in the history of telegraphy that business had been stopped so 



Our Martyred President 79 

generally and so suddenly. When the hands of the clock pointed to 
2 135 the operators bent over their instruments again and the busy click- 
ing of keys was resumed. 

In front of the new postoffice building on the Dearborn street side 
sat a woman garbed in deep mourning. Her little son stood beside her. 
During the entire parade she did not raise her eyes to watch the march- 
ers. She sobbed as though her heart would break. The marchers had 
no charms for her, and her grief was shared by those who surrounded 
her. When the parade was done she walked away, leading her boy by 
the hand, never uttering a word. As she went the big policeman who 
had made a place for her remarked : 'That woman must have known 
some great sorrow. Her grief was pitiful." 

Acting under the general order issued by President Cassatt of the 
Pennsylvania railroad, Conductor \L O. Ginty of the New York and 
Chicago express brought his train to a standstill at 2 130 o'clock. As 
it happened the train was four hours late, and at that time was about 
to cross the Ohio line into Indiana. Upon Ohio soil, however, and on 
the edge of a great cornfield far from au}^ station, the passengers gath- 
ered to do reverence to the memory of President McKinley. Rev. 
Air. Bell, of Dayton, O., was present and conducted a short but im- 
pressive religious service. There were about 100 people in the au- 
dience, representing many different states. Some of the women wept 
at the eloquent words of the impromptu prayer, and the men, includ- 
ing the train crew from engineer to flagman, stood with uncovered 
heads. The sky was clear from horizon to horizon and the wind 
rustling in the drying corn stalks was the only accompaniment to the 
speaker's words. 

Labor paid its last tribute to the late President in the parade. Mr. 
McKinley had been an honorary member of Bricklayers and Stone Ma- 
son's Union, No. 21, of Chicago. Nearly the full membership of the 
organization turned out to honor his memory. Following the banners 
of the organization in carriages came the union bricklayers, each with 
a black and purple rosette on his left shoulder and a red carnation in 
his buttonhole. Headed by President Gubbins of their national union, 
they marched almost the entire line with bowed heads. 

The crowds waiting for the parade at the corner of Michigan ave- 
nue and Jackson boulevard saw all the representatives of the foreign 
countries stationed in Chicago, as they were conspicuous by their uni- 
forms and gold braid. These were heavily draped in crepe. Perhaps 
the foreign representative most admired was Dr. W. Wever, tlie Ger- 
man consul. Dr. Wever was dressed in the full uniform of the Ger- 
man Hussars. As the Deutscher Kriegerverin and the other German 



8o Life of William McKinley 

societies came along the consul took up a position where he could see 
the faces of each one of the old veterans. The doctor stood at atten- 
tion while all passed, and was saluted by each of the former residents 
of the Vaterland. His erect military figure and the uniform made famous 
by the grandfather of the present emperor of Germany w'as recognized 
by the old German soldiers long before they reached the boulevard. 

As the strains of Chopin's funeral march pealed forth from the great 
pipe organ in the Great Northern hotel at 2 -.30 o'clock every guest in 
the crowded lobby with uncovered head bowed reverently to do honor 
to the dead. With the opening notes of the march every light in the 
big hotel ceased to shine, and the dismal surroundings made the music 
all the more impressive. All business was suspended during the play- 
ing of the dirge, the doors being closed for the first time since the hotel 
was opened, and not one of the hundreds of guests moved till the organ 
was stilled. 

As the G. A. R. section of the parade was turning the corner of 
Washington and LaSalle streets two gray-haired old veterans dropped 
out of line. One was more feel)le than the other, and both painfully 
cognizant their marching days were over. 

"John, I can't go any farther." 

"All right, William, let's sit right, down here on the curbstone. 
Fixed comfortable? There goes a fellow^ used to be major of an In- 
diana regiment. He was brigaded with us. Boys don't walk as spry 
as they used to. Lincoln, Garfield, and now McKinley. Pretty hard, 
ain't it, John? Guess we've seen, and the country, too, the last of our 
soldier Presidents. Yet, Roosevelt's all right. I know he's a soldier 
President, but you know what I mean. He wasn't wath Grant or 
Tap" Thomas, 'Old Man' Sherman or 'Black Jack' Logan. That's 
what I mean by soldiers. Yet, sir, Lm afraid McKinley's the last of our 
kind. Let's go home, \\'illiam. I can't stand any more of this." 

A tear stole out of the corner of the speaker's eye and trickled down 
his cheek, but it ran its course, no move was made to check it. And there 
were tears in other folks' eyes. 

A man with a package of crepe badges for sale was shouting his 
wares loudly in the streets around Haymarket Square while the West 
Side division was being formed when he was summoned by one who 
stood looking on. 

"How many badges have you?" the vender was asked. 

The badges were counted out. The man then said: "I will buy 
them all. Here is your money." And then he added: "Now give 
them away with less noise than you have been making. This is not 
the time and place for such aggressive business methods." 




CHARLES EMERY SMITH 
Postmaster General 



Our Martyred President 8i 

As the empty carriage of the Degeia Greek society, bearing only 
a life size portrait of President ^McKinley, passed around the corner 
of Randolph street and Fifth avenue the procession for some reason 
halted for a moment. The crowds pressed around the vehicle, eager 
to get near, as they had mistaken it for the one in which the Presi- 
dent rode on his visits to Chicago. 

The marshals and their aids were trying to clear the way, when a 
little girl, not more than 6 years old, darted out from the front wall 
of the crowd and ran toward the carriage. Half a dozen throats 
shouted a warning to her as she dodged near the horses' heels, but she 
paid no heed. 

Reaching the carriage in safety the little one paused a moment and 
then tenderly tossed a handful of purple asters into the vehicle. She 
threw a kiss after the flowers and then started to run back to the side- 
walk. A strong man picked her up and bore her to the mother, who 
had just missed her child. 

'T gave my flowers to the President, mamma," said the little girl 
as she was set down at her mother's feet. 

"She did, indeed, ma'am," said the man who had carried the child 
back, as he motioned to a group of men who had seen the incident, 
smiling ai)proval as the}^ stood with their hats in their hands." — Chicago 
Rccord-Hcrald. 



CHAPTER V. 
LIFE OF WILLIAM McKINLEY 

Early Manhood — War Record — Lawyer and Politician. 

William jMcKinley was born at Niks, Trumbull county, Ohio, on 
January 29, 1843, being now 58 years old. He was the son of William 
AlcKinley, Sr., and Nancy Campbell Allison, and sprang from a line 
that had figured in many of the early struggles and hardships of the 
republic. 

JMcKinley's boyhood life really began at Poland, a neat little village, 
aljout eight miles south of Youngstown. Main street is its principal 
tlioroughfare, which is well shaded with handsome trees. It is crossed 
by a beautiful and picturesque stream, upon whose banks the village 
grist mill is located. Should w^e follow' Main street from the Methodist 
church, up hill and down hill to its terminus, a good-sized common 
and a Presb3'terian church, we would fintl all that tends to make up a 
small village. 

Here we come in contact with all classes, rich and poor alike. The 
various stores, the postoffice, in w-hich McKinley served as a clerk dur- 
ing vacation, and the old Sparrow tavern, which is now: falling into 
decay, all are found on Main street. 

]\IcKinley was but a child when his parents moved from Niles and 
made a home in this little village in Mahoning county. His surround- 
ings and society w'ere partly agricultural and partly mining, for Poland 
stands well by both these industries. It is the center of a rich farming 
country, and its appearance partakes more of this characteristic than of 
coal and mining. It is the most southern tow-nship of the original 
Western Reserve. One of the original land company from Connecticut 
settled at this point. 

In this old Ohio village he was brought up, atending the public 
school and subsequently the academy, which was an excellent institution 
for those times. He left the academy wdien about seventeen, and 
entered Allegheny College. Here he remained but a short time, return- 
ing to Poland in consequence of illness. Recovering, he did not again 
return to Allegheny, but taught a country school. At this period in 
his life he enlisted. 

82 



Our Martyred President 



83 



Life at Poland until the war broke out was far from exciting. 
Youths like McKinley were obliged to study hard and not infrequently 
do odd jobs to help earn money for books and tuition. As they ad- 
vanced into professions it was often necessary to teach school, clerk 
in a store, work on a farm, or take up some other occupation during 
vacation. The McKinley family never hesitated to do this, and as a 
result, all were equipped with good educations. Two of the daughters 
became excellent teachers, while McKinley himself, as before stated, 




House in Poland, Ohio, Where McKinley Lived While Attending School. 



taught one term of winter school in what was then called the Kerr 
district. This old schoolhouse still stands. It is about two and one- 
half miles by road southwest of Poland, but young McKinley usually 
strode manfully "across lots" to shorten the distance. Many who live 
in Poland still remember seeing the young schoolmaster climbing 
fences and making his way over the rolling surface of the country to 
and from his duties. He was thus able to assist in defraying the 
expenses of his tuition and that of other members of the family at the 
academy. 

This sort of life, as all know, sharpens the intellect, and broadens 
the mind, and has a tendency to shorten the period between bovhood 



«4 



Lite of William McKinley 



and young manhood. McKinley was a real boy, full of fun, loving 
athletic sports, fond of horses, hunting and fishing, and all outdoor 
exercises, and yet at sixteen we find him taking upon himself a serious 
view of life. 

In times of war, young men are filled with a spirit of patriotism, 
and will lea^•c father, mother, home — yes, all, and follow the "fife 
and drum," inspired with love of freedom for our beloved country. 
Such an one was William McKinley. 




Poland (Ohio) Seminary, Where McKinley Attended School. 

The little town of Poland was not to be outstripped in sending 
men and bo3^s to help the cause of "freedom." 

In the old inn a generation ago, could be heard the mutterings and 
murmurings of the mustering hosts. Here young men and boys stood 
ready and eager to "shoulder arms" and march forth as quickly as the 
Government would take them. Poland prides herself to this day that 
.she never stood the draft. As the murmurings of war were floating 
over the country, this little village was not asleep. One day, as they 
were gathered in the old tavern, the speaker pointed to the stars and 
stripes, and exclaimed with much feeling: "Our country's flag has 
been shot at. It has been trailed in the dust by those who 
should defend it, dishonored l)y those who should have clierished and 



Our Martyred President 



8s 



loved it. And for what? 'J'hat this free government may keep a 
race in the bondage of slavery. Who will be the first to defend it?" 
The hush which fell upon them was overpowering. Did it last long? 
Behold them now as they step forth one by one, among them a slight 
boyish figure, with gray eyes filled with the fire of patriotism. Who 
was this youth? William McKinley, scarcely eighteen years old. 

Let us now see the religious side of his life. The church records 
show that i-H 1858, when he was hardly sixteen, young McKinley 
united with the IMcthodist Episcopal church of Poland. He had a 
deep religious nature and was ever alive to the questions asked in the 




Post Office, Poland, Ohio. Where McKinley Was Clerk. 

Bible class. The pastur. Rev. \\\ Day, D. D., was a man of great 
influence and subsequently became eminent in his profession. 

Young ]\IcKinley"s record in the church was that of an earnest, 
persevering Christian, who discharged all duties faithfully. He studied 
the Bible with as much zeal and energy as he did law, and later on the 
great questions of state, leaving no stone imturned so as to reach the 
bottom of the subject. Thus, in his youth, this American statesman, 
the beloved and martyred President, must have worked very hard. 
A close student, he was always up to the standard in the academy. 
The midnight oil was burned by him in a course of law reading. 

Thus, a^ leader of the village debating sociiety. assisting the post- 



86 



Life of William McKinley 



master, teaching school, doing odd jobs, a constant attendant at church, 
asking and answering questions in the Bible class ; all summed up, these 
were indeed busy days for William. His constitution was good, his 
disposition cheerful, and with a hopeful heart, he was enabled to go 
through all this. 

When the guns of Sumter sounded the call to arms, he dropped his 
books, shouldered a musket and marched off into Virginia with tb.c 
Twenty-third Ohio. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes was the commander. 
A few incidents tell better the kind of soldier he was than would an 
extended account of his service. When the battle of Antietam oc- 




Sparrow House, Poland, Ohio, Where McKinley Enlisted in 1861. 



curred he was a sergeant in the commissary department. That battle 
began at daylight. Before daylight men were in the ranks and pre- 
paring for it. Without breakfast, without coffee, they went into the 
fight, and it continued until after the sun had set. Early in the after- 
noon, naturally enough, with the exertion required of the men, they 
were famished and thirsty, and to some extent broken in spirit. The 
commissary department of that brigade was under Sergeant ]\IcKin- 
ley's administration and personal supervision. From his hands every 
man in the regiment was served at the front with hot coffee and warm 
meals, a thing that had never occurred under similar circumstances 
in any other army in the world. He passed under fire and delivered. 



Our Martyred President 



87 



with his own hands, these things so essential for the men for whom 
he was laboring. 

Governor R. B. Hayes, in writing reminiscences of Major Mc- 
Kinley, said of this incident: 

"Coming to Ohio and recovering from wounr'.s, I called upon Gov- 
ernor Tod and told him this incident. With the emphasis that dis- 
tinguished that great war governor, he said: 'Let McKinley be pro- 
moted from sergeant to lieutenant.' and that I might not forget, he 
requested me to put it upon the roster of the regiment, which I did, 







McKinley Carrying Dispatches from Gen. Hayes to Gen. Crook. 

and McKinley was promoted. As was the case, perhaps, with very 
many soldiers, I did not keep a diary regularly from day to day, but 
I kept notes of wdiat was transpiring. When I knew that I was to 
come here, it occurred to me to open the gld note-book of that period 
and see what it contained, and I found this entry: 

"'Saturday, 13th December. 1862.— Our new Second Licutenan. 
McKinley, returned today — an exceedingly bright, intelligent and gen- 
tlemanly young ofificer. He promises to be one of the best." 
"He has kept the promise in every sense of the word." 
Another incident, and one which closed his active career as a sol- 



88 



Life of William McKinley 



(lier, occurred at the battle of Cedar Creek. It showed that, young 
though he was, no personal consideration deterred him from doing his 
duty. His commander had but to give him orders, and with all the 
dash of a veteran warrior, he rode through a hail of shot and shell to 
deHver them. General Russell Hastings, then a lieutenant in McKir.- 
ley's regiment, and his warm friend, afterwards told the story of that 
gallant deed. It appears that General Crook's corps, some 6,000 strong. 




McKinley Removing an Abandoned Battery in the Face of the Enemy. 



found itself opposed to the whole of General Early's army. Some 
sharp fighting ensued. General R. B. Hayes, who was in command 
of his brigade, seeing that he could accomplish nothing without rein- 
forcements, fell back towards Winchester. General Hastings said of 
the event: 

"Just at that moment it was discovered that one of the regiments 
was still in an Orchard where it had been posted at the beginning of 
the battle. General Hayes, turning to Lieutenant McKinlev. direlrted 



Our Martyred President 



89 



him to go forward and bring away that reghnent, if it had not already 
fallen. IvIcKinley turned his horse and, keenly spurring it, pushed it at 
a fierce gallop obliquely toward the advancing enemy. 

"None of us expected to see him again, as we watched him push his 
horse through the open fields, over fences, through ditches, while a 
well-directed fire from the enemy was poured upon him, with shells 
exploding around, about, and over him. 

"Once he was completely enveloped in the smoke of an exploding 
shell and we thought he had gone down. But no, he was saved for 
better work inr his country in his future years. Out of this smoke 
emerged his wiry little brown horse, with ^IcKinley still firmly seated 
and as erect as a hussar. 




McKinley Directing Gen. Sheridan to Gen. Crook's Headquarters After the Famous 
Ride fronr> Winchester. 

"McKinley gave the Colonel the order from Hayes to fall back, 
saying, in addition, 'He supposed you would have gone to the rear 
without orders.' The colonel"s reply was, 'I was about concluding I 
would retire without waiting any longer for orders. I am now ready 
to go wherever you shall lead, but, lieutenant, I "pintedly' 
l.ielieve I ought to give those fellows a volley or two before I go.' ^ Mc- 
Kinley's reply was, 'Then up and at them as. quickly as possible,' and 
as the regiment arose to its feet the enemy came on into full view. 
Colonel Brown's boys gave the enemy a crushing volley, following it 
up with a rattling fire, and then slowly retreated toward some woods 
directly in their rear. At this time the enemy halted all along Brown's 
immediate front and for some distance to his right and left, no doubt 
feelincr he was touching a secondary line, which should be approached 



90 



Life of William McKinley 



with all due caution. During this hesitancy of the enemy, McKinley 
led the regiment through these woods on toward Winchester. 

'Ws Hayes and Crook saw this regiment safely off, they turned, 
and, following the column, with it moved slowly to the rear, down the 
Winchester pike. At a point near Winchester. McKinley brought the 
regiment to the column and to its place in the brigade. McKinley 
greeted us all with a happy, contented smile — no effusion, no gushing 
palaver of words, though all of us felt and knew one of the most gallant 
acts of the war had been performed. 

^'As McKinley drew up by the side of Hayes to make his verbal 
report, I heard Hayes say to him, 'I never expected to see you in life 
again.' " 




McKinley at the Battle of Antietam Serving Coffee and Meat Under Fire. 

General Sheridan also paid tribute to McKinley's zeal, when he 
galloped down the line from W^inchestcr. shouting, "Face the other 
way, boys, we're going back!" On that famous ride he met Lieutenant 
McKinley, and that young officer carried the news through General 
Hayes' brigade, so that when the advance was ordered the brigade was 
in place, and another Union victory was achieved. 

Lieutenant McKinley was made captain on July 25, 1864, and was 
brevetted major by President Lincoln for gallant conduct on the fields 
of Opequan, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. He was with the old 
Twenty-third in all its fights and was mustered out with the regiment 
in July, 1865. 

McKinley's military life and advancement, as indicated bv the 



Our Martyred President 91 

official records, was most commendable. He enlisted as a private in 
Company E of the Twenty-third O. V. I., June 11, 1861 ; was pro- 
moted to commissary sergeant, April 15, 1862; was promoted to sec- 
ond lieutenant of Company D, September 23. 1862; was promoted to 
captain of Company G, July 25, 1864; was detailed as acting assistant 
adjutant general of the First division, First army corps, on the staff 'of 
General Carroll; was brevetted major, March 13, 1865, and was mus- 
tered out of service July 26, 1865. 

William Henry Smith says of McKinley: "His success on merit 
during the war of the rebellion has had its counterpart in civil life in 
the public service. When someone remarked in the presence of General 
Hayes that Major McKinley possessed many brilliant qualities as a 
public man; that he was skillful in debate and tactful as a leader, but 
was lacking in business ability, he received tliis reply: 'A man wdio 
before he had attained the age of twenty-one, kept up the supplies for 
the army of General Crook in active service in the field, is not lacking 
in business ability. He has capacity equal to any enterprise, for any 
position in life, even the highest. 

BECOME.S .\ L.VWVER .\XD POLITICI.\N. 

After his military career, McKinley returned to his home in Ohio, 
where he entered upon the study of law with Jutlge Charles E. Gidden, 
at Poland, afterward taking a course of study at the Albany, New York, 
Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1867. ^McKinley's early 
.life was favored, in that he had not only true and noble parents to 
guide him, but in his civil career, had such a man as Judge Gidden, 
who is spoken of as being of high character, eloquent and forceful ad- 
dress, and a voice which, when once heard, was never forgotten. 

He commenced his law practice in Canton, Ohio, to which place 
he removed, and was elected district attorney of Stark county, in wdiich 
capacity he served ten years, and was re-nominated, but not elected, 
as the enemy, as ever, was on the alert, and caused his defeat. But 
this did not daunt him, and as the town of Canton grew in importance, 
his law practice increased. 

These events would naturally lead him into politics, and we find him 
now launching out on that great sea, whose waves carried him to the 
highest and most honored position an American citizen can attain. 

January 25th, 1871, Major McKinley was married to ^liss Ida 
Saxton, daughter of J. A. Saxton, a banker, of Canton. That event 
had, in after years, no doubt, much to do with the strong hold on the 
affections of the people, acquired by IMajor McKinley. His wife became 



92 Life of William McKinley 

an invalid early in their married life. The two little girls born to them 
died in childhood, and Major McKinley devoted all the time he could 
spare from public duties to comforting his helpmate. No more beautiful 
example of marital devotion was ever seen than that of William Mc- 
Kinley to the gentle invalid, who survives him, and is enshrined with 
him in the hearts of his countrymen. 

Major McKinley was first elected to Congress in 1876. He was 
nominated by the republicans, who had little hope ui electing him. His 
opponent was Judge L. D. Woodsworth, the then incumbent of the 
office, and a democratic wheelhorse. There was a democratic majority 
in the district, the old eighteenth of 1800. Few expected this could 
be overcome, but Major McKinley overcame it, having a clean majority 
of 1,300 votes. 

It was particularly felicitous for Major McKinley that his first four 
years in congress were coincident with the administrtion of President 
Hayes. The youngest member of congress, he had the intimate and 
near friendship of the ruler of the nation. Of course, no direct political 
advancement could, or did. grow out oi this friendshij). 

He made no plunge into legislative work during his first session. 
The records do not contain any speech of his, nor does his name appeai; 
on any im])ortant committee. He studied and leiu-ned. and after his 
first speech in 1878, on the Wood tariff bill, he was recognized as a 
man of power. A ])lace on the ways and means committee was given 
him. and for thirteen years he remained there. It is impossible t(» 
summarize his congressional career in the limited space this volume 
affords, but his tariff record, which was the main work of his leeis- 
lative career, is treated in another chapter. Suflice it to say, that up 
to the time of his unseating Ijy the democrats in the b^rtv-eighth con- 
gress, he was attending carefully and energetically to all his duties, 
and had come to be regarded as one of the ablest members of the 
house. So satisfied with his services were the people of his district 
that though the democrats sought to defeat him by gerrymandering his 
district, he won in every case until 1890. 

The unseating of McKinley by the democratic majoritv in the forty- 
eighth congress in no wise affected his popularity at home. He had 
been a modest and faithful servant of the people. In e\-ery undertaking 
he had stood four-square to all the winds wliich blew, and his friends 
and neighbors in his native state never intended to permit such a 
devoted public servant to go into retirement. The experiment of put- 
ting an untried democrat in the place so long occupied by Major Mc- 
Kinley had not been a conspicuons success, and there were many people 
who, despite their i:)arty affiliations, disliked the manner in which the 



Our Martyred President 93 

major had been deprived of his seat. It was generally admitted that he 
knew more about the real needs of his constituency which might be reme- 
died by legislation, than any other man. That he was honest, and 
untiring in his efforts to do his full duty towards his people, all knew. 

The democrats, however, did not propose to allow him to go back 
to congress, if they could help it. No doubt was entertained as to his 
becoming a candidate in 1884, and the democrats tried to head him off 
by their favorite scheme of gerrymandering the district again. The 
effort was unsuccessful. A hot canvass followed Major McKinley's 
nomination, and when the votes were counted, it was found that he 
had secured a majority of 1,500, despite the best efforts of the 
opposition. 

When the major appeared in Washington in March, 1885, he found 
many friends to welcome him l^ack. There was plenty of work for 
him to do, and he applied liimself to it diligently. Hie index to the 
Congressional Record for that period contains nearly a page of memo- 
randa showing the part he took in the legislation of the country. 

He was never a nam])unyanl talker, and spoke in the house only when 
he had something weighty to say. This was recognized long before 
his leadership was established, and he had attentive listeners whenever 
he arose to speak. During this session he delivered an address in 
memory of the nnn-dered President Garfield, tliat was eloquent in its 
simplicity, and worthy of commendation, because of the high range of 
its thought, and the lessons of patriotism and duty which it inculcated. 

Another speech uttered at that session, is memorable because it 
shows his long and earnest sympathy with the laboring man. Major 
McKinley was l)rought up amidst the great, throbbing iron and steel 
industries of the country. He had seen the struggle of the workingmen 
to secure i)roper recognition of their rights, and he felt for them the 
keenest sympathy. This was manifested in various ways, and was 
specially em])hasized in the debate on the bill submitted to the house 
by the committee on labor, providing for "the speedy settlement of 
controversies and differences between common carriers engaged in inter- 
state and territorial transportation of property or passengers, and their 
employees." 

There is, perhaps, more of sarcasm in his remarks than he usually 
permitted, but it was an open fight, and he was doubtless prepared to 
meet the issue to the utmost end, and to permit no unanswered attacks 
on the policy of his party and the principles he professed to believe in. 
Congressman Breckinridge, of Kentucky, had moved an amendment to 
the bill, which precluded board of arbitration from administering oaths 
subpoenaing witnesses, compelling attendance, etc., and in defending 



94 Life of William McKinley 

the amendment, he had declared that the only remedy possible, by legis- 
lation, for the evils complained of, was equal laws. "Let us distribute 
the burdens of our civilization," he said, 'equally upon labor and capital. 
That is all we can do. Make capital pay its share of the burdens ; take 
from labor the burdens which have been unequally imposed upon it. 
Say by equal laws there shall be a great distribution of the burdens ; 
that the burden shall no longer gall this burden-bearing back, and that 
labor shall have a just and ecjual consideration under our laws with 
capital. I say to my democratic friends, this bill is not in the direction 
they want us to go. This is not the remedy for the burdens upon 
oppressed labor. But there is a remedy : Let us reduce taxation. Let 
us go back to the old democratic doctrine of free and equal rights 
to all." 

Upon obtaining the floor, Major McKinley said: 

"Mr. Chairman : I rise to oppose the amendment of the gentleman 
from Kentucky. The whole purpose of the amendment is to destroy 
whatever of good results may be expected from the passage of this bill ; 
and I can readily see why a gentleman who is opposed to this system 
of settling differences between employer and emj^loyee should offer the 
amendment which is here proposed. I am quite sure, Mr. Chairman, 
that the fervent and eloquent words of my distinguished friend, will 
be welcomed by the laboring men of the land as a sovereign cure for 
their evils and their discontent. I feel very certain that the general 
platitudes in which he has indulged, about the equality of all men in 
this country, and the dignity of labor, and the general statement that 
the way to help these workingmen is to reduce taxation, will be accepted 
by them as a never-failing remedy. I am sure every laboring man in 
this country will hail with acclamation, these soft word-s as a panacea 
for all his troubles. 

'T am opposed to the amendment, because I believe in the principle 
and tendency of the bill. I would amend it in some particulars if I 
could. The bill confers no rights or privileges touching arbitration 
which are not now enjoyed by common carriers and those engaged in 
their service. It leaves them wliere it finds them, with the right of 
voluntary arbitration, to settle their difficulties through a peaceful and 
orderly tribunal of their own selection. It only follows the principle 
recognized in many states of the Union, notably in Ohio and Massachu- 
setts, and gives national sanction and encouragement to a mode of 
settlement of grievances between employer and employee, which is 
approved by the best judgment of the country, and the enlightened 
sentiment of all civilized peoples. 

"While the bill does not compel arbitration, its passage here will not 



Our Martyred President 95 

be without influence as a legislative suggestion in commending the prin- 
ciple to both capital and labor as the best and most economic way of com- 
posing differences and settling disagreement which experience has un- 
formly shown, in the absence of an amicable adjustment, results in loss 
to all classes of the community, and to none more than the workingmen 
themselves. 

"If by the passage of this simple measure arbitration as a system 
shall be aided to the slightest extent, or advanced in private or public 
favor, or if it shall serve to attract the thoughtful attention of the people 
to the subject, much will have been accomplished for the good of our 
communities, and for the welfare and prosperity of the people. 

"I am in favor of this bill for what it is, and only for what it is. 
It does not undertake to do impossible things, or cross the line of safety. 
I will regret if it shall deceive anybody, and if it is the purpose of any- 
body to make believe that its passage is a cure for the evils and dis- 
content which pervade society, I must disclaim now any part or share 
in such purpose or expectation, for it will not, and can not, and nobody 
supposes it will. It simply provides that when the railroad companies 
operating through two or more states, or in the territories, shall agree 
upon and consent to an arbitration, this bill will aid, encourage and 
assist the parties concerned to get at the truth, to probe to the bottom, 
ascertain the facts of the situation, by which the board will be enabled 
to act intelligently and justly to all interests involved. This is the 
whole of it in scope and extent, and cannot and will not deceive any one. 

'Tt is said there is no way to enforce the judgment of the arbitration, 
and. therefore, it is a nullity. I have the least concern on that score. I 
have no fear that after the railroad corporation and its employees have 
united in an arbitration, its judgment will be disobeyed or not acquiesced 
in as final and conclusive. Neither will venture, in the absence of fraud, 
to ignore the award of a tribunal of their own selection, in which both 
have voluntarily confided for the settlement of their differences. We 
need borrow no trouble on that account. Refusal to obey the judgment 
of the arbitration would be the exception and not the rule, and an award 
honestly reached will be sacredly observed. Nor am I troubled because 
there is no compulsion to arbitrate in the first instance. Either party 
provided for in the bill, believing it has a genuine grievance, and 
inviting the other to arbitrate, will occupy a vantage ground which the 
other can not long successfully defy. There is a sense of fair play 
among the people which, when crystallized into public judgment, is as 
potent, ay, more potent than statute or judicial decree. No railroad 
corprration, no labor union, no body of laboring men could long hold 
out against fair and e^jnitable demand, backed by a willingness to 



96 Lite of William McKinley 

submit the justice of that demand to a board of competent arbitrators. In 
any view there is no harm in trying this experiment ; and in this effort, 
small and inconsequential as it may seem to be, I am confident we are 
iT.oxiuo- m the right direction and nothing but good can result." 

In closing his remarks. Major McKinley said : 

"I believe, Mr. Chairman, in arbitration as a principle. I believe it 
should prevail in the settlement of international differences. It repre- 
sents a higher civilization than the arbitraments of war. I believe it is 
in close accord with the best thought and sentiment of mankind. I be- 
lieve It is the -true way of settling dift'erences between labor and capital 
I believe it will bring both to a better understanding, uniting them closer 
in interest, and promoting better relations, avoiding force, avoiding un- 
just exactions and oppression, avoiding the loss of earnings to Tabor 
avoiding disturbances to trade and transportation; and if this house 
can contribute in the smallest measure, by legislative expression or 
otherwise, to these ends, it will deserve and receive the gratitude of 
all men who love peace, good order, justice and fair play." 

I his speech, taken in connection with lAIajor McKinley s subse- 
quent acts as governor of Ohio, during the acute labor disturbances of 
]b94. show his love of justice, and his constant effort to achieve by 
lawtLil and reasonable means, the greatest possible good to society 

His undeniable trust in the wisdom of the people was again ex- 
hibited during this congress, when the bill concerning the presidential 
succession was under discussion. Fault had been found with the exist- 
ing law-that framed by the founders of the republic-as being inade- 
quate, and a committee of the house had formulated a bill, makin- the 
succession-m case of the death or disability of the president and'vice- 
president, run to the cabinet ministers. Major McKinlev disagreed 
with the provisions of the bill, and offered an amendment, in the nature 
of a substitute, for the pending bill. In explaining the scope of his 
amendment, lie said : 

"Mv. Speaker, my substitute preserves the existing, law as it hvis 
mack ,n ,792, and leaves the presidential succession wliere we find it 
"1 tha lavy; and the only new provision I propose is that we shall ne^■er 
be without a president pro tempore of the senate, and never be without 

nro^v^les'i^nn;".! "' °' '■^P;-^^,^"'»'i^-es. And to this end my substitute 
provides that he congress shall assemble at midday on the 4th day of 
Marel, succeeding the election of representati^■es n congress for the 

of the speakership, or the presidency pro tempore of the senate becom- 
ing vacant during tlie recess, the president of the United State sh^l 
forthwith assemble the house in which such vacancy exist f^rh 




ELIHU ROOT 
Secretary of War 



Our Martyred President 97 

purpose of electing a presiding officer. It preserves intact the law as our 
forefathers made it, and executes with certainty their purpose, and that 
of the law itself. It avoids the dangerous step taken by the present 
bill, which takes away from the people of the country, in whom all 
power resides, the right to fill a vacancy in the presidency in a certain 
contingency, that contingency being the death or removal of both 
president and vice-president of the United States. I would leave that 
power with the people, where it properly belongs. I am opposed to any 
step in the opposite direction. My substitute follows the pathway of 
the founders of the government, which, in my judgment, is the path 
of safety." 

Major McKinley's sul)stitute was defeated, but the bill passed. Was 
it fate that he should be the first president whose successor should be 
inducted into tlie high office under the provisions of that bill? 

In the fiftietli and fifty-first fiongresses. Major McKinley wa,'^ 
chiefly engaged in the handling of tariff measures, which will be con- 
sidered in another chapter. It was in 1890 that he was finally defeated 
for congress. In the fifty-first congress he had succeeded in securing 
the enactment of the protective tariff bill that bore ,his name, and as a 
result had been made the target for all sorts of vile abuse by opponents 
throughout the country. The free traders of Ohio clamored for his 
defeat, and to accomplish it another gerrymander was resorted to. Stark 
county was put into a district with Wayne, Medina and Holmes counties, 
and Ex-Lieutenant Governor Warwick, a popular democrat, was nomi- 
nated against Major McKinley. One year before the counties compris- 
ing the new district had given Campbell, the democratic candidate for 
governor, 2,900 majority, but, despite this fact and the combination 
against him of all the power democracy could bring to bear, he was de- 
feated by only 363 votes. The largest vote ever cast in the district was 
brought out, and the Major polled 2,500 more votes than had been 
given Benjamin Harrison for president in 1888. 

When in congress Mr. McKinley served on the committee of the 
revision of laws, the judiciary committee, the committee of expenditures 
of the postoffice department and the committee on rules ; and when 
General Garfield was nominated for the presidency, McKinley Avas 
assigned to the committee on ways and means in his place, and he con- 
tinued to serve on the last named committee until the end of his congres- 
sional career. 



CHAPTER VI. 
His Last Term in Congress. Record on the Tariff. 

Major McKinley rounded out his congressional career in the 51st 
congress with the passage of the protective tariff law known as the Mc- 
Kinley bill. The remarkable wisdom displayed in handling that meas- 
ure indicated, probably, that he had fulfilled his destiny as a legislative 
factor, and thenceforth his work for the people was to be in executive 
channels. No greater fame could have come to him than the shaping 
of that law, which pledged his party to a principle, and which proved of 
such benefit to the nation. In considering his final services in the 
house, it may be well to take a backward glance at his record, especially 
as related to the tariff question, and give an idea of the cause of the 
power he wielded. 

The tariff question was not a new one in the history of American 
legislation when William McKinley took his place in the house of rep- 
resentatives at Washington. It had been thrashed over by the colo- 
nists, who objected to and sought to evade exactions of the mother 
country long before the declaration of independence was written. How 
to protect the people, to develop the country and to prevent suffering 
among the producing classes, were questions that the colonists and 
the continental congress struggled with, and that their successors in 
administrative affairs found great difficulty in settling. Some of the 
states, before the adoption of the constitution, passed laws for the 
express purpose of protecting home industries against the better organ- 
ized and cheaper manufacturers of Europe. Pennsylvania in the pre- 
amble to her tariff law, said : 

"Whereas, although the fabrics and manufactures of Europe and 
other foreign parts imported into this country in times of peace, may be 
afforded at cheaper rates than they can be made here, yet good policy, 
and a regard for the well-being of divers useful and industrious citizens, 
who are employed in the making of like goods in this state, demand 
of us that moderate duties be laid on certain fabrics and manufactures 
imported, which do most interfere with, and which (if no relief be 
given) will undermine and destroy the useful manufactures of the like 
kind in this country." 

At that early day it was clearly seen that industries could not l)e 

98 



Our Martyred President 



99 



built up in this country if they had to compete with foreign manufac- 
tures on equal terms. But the protective idea, in its full efflorescence, 
had not yet come into being. The school of political economists then 
holding sway — Richards, Adam Smith, Say and others — favored free 
trade. In theory that is as beautiful as socialism in its essence — and 
as impractical. But the fact was not appreciated then, nor for years 
afterward. When the constitution was adopted the subject of raising 
revenue for the expenses of government was discussed and congress 
was given power to "regulate commerce." What that meant was long 
a subject of debate, and while the proponents of protection declared 
it meant a tariff for the protection of American industries, the oppo- 
nents were as sure as they could be of anything that it meant that 
congress should only "regulate commerce," so far as to provide reve- 
nues for the government. Though the question has been discussed ever 
sin-^e, there are still those who hold to the belief that all protective laws 
are unconstitutional, and do violence to the intent of the framers of 
our organic law. 

Major IMcKinley was one of those who held to the broader meaning 
of the fathers of the republic. He followed Daniel Webster, who in a 
speech in Albany. N. Y.. in 1847, said: 

"Now, in the early administration of the government, some trusts 
and duties were conferred upon the general government, about which 
there could not be much dispute. It bek^nged to the general govern- 
ment to make war and peace, and to make treaties. There was no 
room for dispute as to these powers; they were liable to no great di- 
versity of opinion. But then comes the other power, which has been, 
and is now% of the utmost importance — that of regulating commerce. 
What does that import? On this part of the constitution there has 
sprung up in our day a great diversity of opinion. But it is certain that 
when the constitution had been framed, and the first congress assem- 
bled to pass laws under it, there was no diversity of opinion on it, no 
contradictory sentiments. The power of regulating commerce granted 
to congress was most assuredly understood to embrace all forms of regu- 
lation belonging to those terms under other governments — all th.e 
meaning implied in the terms, in the same language, employed in all 
laws, and in the intercourse of modern nations. And I consider it as 
capable of mathematical demonstration — as capable of demonstration 
as any problem in Euclid, that the power of discriminating in custom 
house duties for the protection of American labor and industry, was 
understood, not by some, but by all, by high and low, everywhere, as 
included in the regulation of trade." 

Rufus Choate and other eminent men held similar views, but con- 

L.ofC. 



lOO Life of William McKinley 

gress thrashed the question over and over again, until the year 1893, 
when, after the passage of the Wilson bill, which repealed the McKin- 
ley act, the country came to the conclusion that the protective theory 
was, if not absolutely right, at least productive of greater good to the 
people than the free trade theory. 

In the controversies leading up to this conclusion from 1878, Major 
McKinley bore a conspicuous part. He did not gain a foremost place 
as a matter of chance, nor because there were no leaders of consequence 
on his side. When he made his first speech in congress on the subject 
of tariff, he was in company with those veterans, Morrill, of Vermont, 
and Judge William D. Kelley. of Pennsylvania. They were masters 
of all the arguments to be used on the subject of protection of Ameri- 
can industries, yet they listened to this youth from the west, and ad- 
mired the logical manner in which he presented the subject, his won- 
derful knowledge of the facts, and the splendid manner in which he 
drove home his arguments. It was no fortuitous combination of cir- 
cumstances which thus branded him as a leader among leaders. It 
was hard, systematic work, such as he had all his life been accustomed 
to do. When a young lawyer in Canton, it is said, an able and cunning 
lawyer of an adjacent town, knowing that Major McKinley was. a 
protectionist, proposed to debate the question with him. The major 
agreed, but the opponent was too strong for him. A bright intelligence, 
sophistry, and long practice enabled the elder man to win a victory. 
The incident galled Major McKinley. He recognized his unprepared- 
ness for the contest, and said to a friend : "Hereafter no man shall 
overcome me so; I know that I am right in this matter, and I know 
that I can show that I am right by and by." From that time on 
he studied assiduously. Books, and men, and conditions, were scru- 
tinized, and everything in the way of knowledge they had to impart 
was absorbed by the major. It is said that those who traveled with 
him, or who met him away from home, were amazed at his persistent 
inquiry respecting material things which might suggest a lesson in 
American prosperity. The railways, their mileage, their traffic, their 
dividends, their proposed extensions; the mills, what they produced, 
how many hands they employed, how the working people lived; what 
comforts and luxuries they were able to enjoy; the distinctive trade of 
any city in which he happened to stop; whether it was on the increase, 
or was decreasing, and why. Of the agricultural interests of the coun- 
try it was said he could tell the husbandmen more than they knew, 
and yet he drew them out on all occasions. Add to these facts the 
further statement that his youth was spent within sound of the roar 
of iron furnaces, and that the greatest industrial development the world 



Our Martyred President loi 

ever saw was going on during his congressional career, and it is easy 
to see that no man could have been better equipped than he to lead his 
party in the matter of legislation, and ultimately to become, through 
its agency, 'the chief executive of the nation. No man ever had a 
stronger sense cf duty, or a more steadfast adherence to principle than 
Major McKinley, and when he stood up in the house, April 15, 1878, 
to speak on the Wood tariff bill, he said : 

"I am opposed to the pending bill from a high sense of duty — a 
duty imposed upon me by th.e very strong convictions which I enter- 
tain after an examination of its several features, and from the convic- 
tion that should the proposed measure become a law, it will be nothing 
short of a public calamity." 

He discussed the general features of the bill, and declared that if 
enacted into law it would decrease the national revenues, lower wages 
and impoverish the working classes. After he had, with masterly skill, 
dissected the measure and shown its weaknesses, he concluded : 

"Mr. Chairman, the proposed bill is a piece of patchwork, and 
abounds in inconsistencies. It is an attempt to conciliate two schools 
of political science and pleases neither. It has marched out into the 
broad field of compromise and come back with a few supporters, it is 
true, who are opposed to the original bill as reported. It is neither 
free trade, tariff reform, nor protective tariff. It has none of the 
virtues of either, but the glaring faults of all systems. It is an attempt 
to change a law which does not improve the old one. It is an experi- 
ment opposed by all experience. It introduces uncertainty into the 
business of this country, when certainty is essential to its life. I can 
not better characterize it than by quoting the language of the distin- 
guished gentleman from Xew^ York ( i\Ir. Wood) in speaking of a tariff 
IdIII pending in June, 1864, in this house. Speaking of that bill (and 
his words seem prophetic as applied to his own), he said: The com- 
mittee has given us a bill which I regard as an exceedingly crude and 
improper measure ;' and that is what the country has already said of the 
pending bill, and it is what I believe wall be the verdict of this house 
when a vote is reached. 

"What the country wants above all else at this critical period is rest 
— rest from legislation, safety and security as to its basis of business, 
certainty as to the resources of the government, immunity from legis- 
lative tinkering. None of these are afforded by the present bill. 

"Mr. Chairman, there never was a time in the history of this coun- 
try, more inauspicious than the present for the dreamer and the theorist 
to put into practical operation his impracticable theories of political 
science. The countrv does not want them; the business men of the 



I02 Life of William McKinley 

country do not want them. They want quiet to recuperate their wasted 
forces, and I am sure I utter no sentiment new or original when I say 
that if this house will promjjtly pass the appropriation bills and other 
pressing legislation, and follow it with an immediate adjournment, the 
people will applaud such a course as the work of statesmen and the 
wisdom of men of affairs." 

It was in this manner, calmly but forci1)ly, that he entered upon the 
work in congress, with which his name was thenceforth to be stead- 
fastly allied. Four years later, owing to the changed condition of 
national affairs, he advocated a friendly revision of the tariff by a 
commission appointed for that purpose. The commission was appointed 
by President Arthur, June 7, 1882, and was composed as follows: 
John L. Hayes, of Massachusetts, chairman; Henry W. Oliver, Penn- 
sylvania; Austin M. Garland, Illinois; Jacob A. Ambler, Ohio;'R()bert 
P. Porter, District of Columbia; John W. H. Underwood, Georgia; 
Duncan F. Kenner, Louisiana; Alexander F. Boteler, West Virginia, 
and William H. McMahon, New York. , The result of the labors of the 
commission was reported to congress in 1883, and Major McKinley 
was one of the most active participants in the debate which resulted. 
The bill became a law, but in 1884 the democrats took up the question 
again. Congressman W. R. Morrison, of Illinois, introduced a meas- 
ure known as the Morrison horizontal bill. The democrats were dis- 
satisfied with the republican measure, and declared that Judge Kelley, 
of Pennsylvania, Major McKinley, and others did not have sufficient 
ability to frame a tariff law, and had therefore turned the matter over to 
a commission of experts. In the debate on the bill Major McKinley 
met the olijections which had been urged against the commission bill, 
and displayed his remarkable familiarity with the subject by taking 
u]^ the various schedules and ])ointing out the errors of the ways and 
means committee. In his speech he said : 

'Tt is gratifying to know that at last the true sentiment of the demo- 
cratic party of the country dominates the party in which it has so h^ig 
been in the majority, and no longer submits to the dictation of a faction^ 
minority within its own ranks. It is gratifying because the people can 
n(^ longer be deceived as to the real purpose of the party, which is to 
break down the protective tariff and collect duties hereafter upon a pure 
revenue basis, closely approximating free trade. Patent platforms and 
the individual utterances of democratic statesmen will no longer avail, 
and false pretenses can no longer win. 

"The bill reported from the committee on ways and means is a 
proposition to reduce the duties upon all articles of imported merchan- 
dise, except those embraced in two schedules, to-wit, spirits and silks. 



Our Martyred President 103 

LvvciUy per cent. It is to be a horizontal reduction, not a well matured 
and carefully considered revision. Its author makes no such claim for 
it, but confesses in his recent speech, that while a revision and adjust- 
ment are essential, they are believed to be unattainable at the present 
session of congress.' " 

In further discussing the measure, Major McKinley said: 

"What can be said of the capacity of the majority of the committee 
on ways and means as evidenced by the bill before us? It is a confes- 
sion upon its face of absolute incapacity to grapple with the great sub- 
ject. The Morrison bill will never be suspected of having passed the 
scrutiny of intelligent experts like the tariff commission. This is a 
revision by the cross-cut process. It gives no evidence of the expert's 
skill. It is the invention of indolence — I will not say of ignorance, for 
the gentlemen of the majority of the committee on ways and means are 
competent to prepare a tarifif bill. I repeat, it is not only the invention 
of indolence, but it is the mechanism of a botch workman. A thousand 
times better refer the question to an intelligent commission, which will 
study the question in its relation to the revenues and industries of the 
country, than to submit a bill like this. 

"They have determined upon doing something, no matter how mis- 
chievous, that looks to the reduction of import duties ; and doing it, too, 
in spite of the fact that not a single request has come either from the 
great producing or consuming classes of the United States for any 
change in the direction proposed. \\'ith the power in their hands, they 
have determined to put the knife in, no matter where it cuts, nor how 
much blood it draws. It is the volunteer surgeon, unbidden, insisting 
upon using the knife upon a body that is strong and healthy, needing 
only rest and release from the quack whose skill is •limited to the hori- 
zontal am]mtation, and whose science is barren of either knowledge or 
discrimination. And then it is not to stop with ojie horizontal slasli ; 
it is to be followed by another, and still another, until there is nothing 
left either of life or hope. 

"It is well, if this bill is to go into force, that on yesterday the 
other branch of congress, the senate, passed a bankruptcy bill. It is a 
fitting corollary to the Morrison bill; it is a proper and necessary com- 
panion. The senate has done wisely in anticipation of our action here 
in providing legal means for settling with creditors, for wiping out 
balances, and rolling from the shoulders of our people the crushing 
l)urdens which this bill will impose." 

The next assault upon the tariff which Major McKinley met was 
in t888, when Roger O. Mills, of Texas, presented what is known as 
the IMills bill. This bill was fixed up by the majority of the ways and 



I04 Life of William McKinley 

means committee to suit themselves. It was completed and printed 
without the knowledge of the minority, and without consideration or 
discussion in the full committee. This naturally incensed Major McKin- 
ley, who was a member of the committee. The minority made re- 
peated efforts to obtain from the majority of the committee data from 
which the bill was constructed, but without avail. Major McKinley 
*l)repared and presented to the house the views of the minority of the 
committee on the Mills bill, and the document is said to be one of the 
ablest ever prepared on the subject. The minority condemned the bill, 
declaring it to be a radical reversal of the tariff policy of the coun- 
try which for the most part had prevailed since the foundation of 
the government, and under which the country had made industrial 
and agricultural progress without «i parallel in the world's history. 
The schedules were analyzed and their inconsistency and unworthi- 
ness, from a republican standpoint, referred to. In closing, the report 
asserted that the minority regarded the bill not as a revenue reduction 
measure, but as a direct attempt to fasten upon this country the' British 
policy of free foreign trade. 

A few weeks after the presentation of this report, Major McKinley 
delivered a speech in the house against the bill. It was a masterl} 
effort, prepared with all possiljle care, and it is declared to have been 
one of the most convincing speeches on the subject ever uttered. There 
was no argument which the democrats advanced to which he had not 
a ready answer, and the clearness with which he presented his points, 
and remarkable grasp of the numerous details which he possessed, as- 
tounded even those who were familiar with his career, and knew the 
care with which he examined every subject brought to his attention 
while in the performance of his duty. 

In the course of his address, he spoke as follows : 

"From 1789 to -.1888, a period of ninety-nine years, there have been 
forty-seven years when a democratic revenue tariff policy has prevailed, 
and fifty-two years under the protective policy, and it is a noteworthy 
fact that the most progressive and prosperous periods of our history in 
every department of human effort and material development, were 
during the fifty-two years when the protective party was in control 
and protective tariffs were maintained, and the most disastrous 
years — years of want and wretchedness, ruin and retrogression, eventu- 
ating in insufficient revenues and shattered credits, individual 
and national — were during the free trade or revenue tariff era^, 
of our history. No man lives who passed througli any of the lat- 
ter periods Imt would dread their return, and would flee from them 
as he would escape from fire and pestilence, and I believe the party 



Our Martyred President 105 

which promotes their return will merit and receive popular condem- 
nation. What is the trouble with our present condition? No coun- 
try can point to greater prosperity or more enduring evidences of 
substantial progress among all the people. Too much money is being 
collected, it is said. We say, stop it; not by indiscriminate legislation, 
but by simple business methods. Do it on simple, practical lines, and 
we will help you. Buy up the bonds, objectionable as it may be, and 
pay the nation's debt, if you cannot reduce taxation. You could have 
done this long ago. Nobody is chargeable for the failure but your own 
administration. 

"Who is objecting to our protective system? From what quarter 
does the complaint come? Not from the enterprising American citi- 
zen ; not from the manufacturer ; not from the laborer, whose wages 
it improves ; not from the consumer, for he is fully satisfied, because 
imder it he buys a cheaper and better product than he did under the 
other system ; not from the farmer, for he finds among the employees 
of the protected industries his best and most reliable customers ; not 
from the merchant or the tradesman, for every hive of industry in- 
creases the number of his customers and enlarges the volume of his 
trade. 

"This measure is not called for by the people; it is not an American 
measure; it is inspired by importers and foreign producers, most of 
them aliens, who want to diminish our trade and increase their owai ; 
who want to decrease our prosperity and augment theirs, and who have 
no interest in this country except what they can make out of it. To 
this is added the influence of the professors in some of our institutions 
of learning, who teach the science contained in books, and not that 
of practical business. I w^ould rather have my political economy 
founded upon the every day experience of the puddler or the potter than 
the learning of the professor; or the farmer and factory hand than the 
college faculty. There is another class who want protective tariffs over- 
thrown, lliey are the men of independent wealth, with settled and 
steady incomes, who want everything cheap but currency; the value 
of everything clipped but coin — cheap labor, but dear money. These 
are the elements which are arrayed against us." 

The Mills bill, though passed by the house, was defeated in the 
senate, and no one man contributed more to that result than Major 
McKinley. He had been for ten years at work almost incessantly upon 
the subject of tariff. He had ransacked the pages of history, explored 
'lative industries, quizzed all classes of people, and had learned all there 
was to know. He was not an expert as to the iron industry alone. He 
knew all about wool, about glassware, about lace, sugar, drugs, lum- 
ber, wheat, coal, and the myriad commodities which are in daily use 



io6 Life of William McKinley 

by society. As a result of these studies and experiences, he had ah-eady 
hoisted the banner of protection for protection's sake. Other leaders 
of the party had wobbled somewhat in times past on the subject of 
protecting- home industries by levying a tariff. There had been talk of 
a "tariff for revenue only" in the party, and "a revenue tariff with in- 
cidental protection," but Major McKinley listened to no doctrine on 
the tariff question which did not embody, without equivocation, the idea 
of protection. 

When congress assembled in 1889, Major McKinley, then chair- 
man of the committee on ways and means, set about preparing a tariff 
bill which had for its object the double purpose of reducing the then 
surplus revenue, and of revising and harmonizing the several sched- 
ules of the tariff law. The work was done completely and systematic- 
ally. It caused no disturbance in business circles, because everybody 
knew there would be no violence d(^ne to the existing law, and that 
business would be in no wise unsettled. To get at facts, however, 
everybody interested, high and low, was heard by the committee, and no 
one worked as hard during all this period as Major McKinley. The 
bill was drawn, and said to be the most complete, symmetrical and 
patriotic law ever framed. It is not necessary here to enter into details 
concerning it. Suffice it to say that it stimulated manufactures in a 
most remarkable degree, and brought amazing prosperity to the coun- 
try. Before these results were brought about, however, another con- 
p-ressional election had been held, and a democratic house had been 
chosen. That body, in accordance with party principles, took up the 
tariff question, and finally passed the Wilson bill, which President 
Cleveland declared an act of "party perfidy and party dishonor," and 
said if the house should at last concur in it, "they would not dare to 
look the people of the country in the face." 

The speeches of Major McKinley on the bill bearing his name shovv 
the honesty of his convictions, and the superb consistency with which 
he maintained himself amidst conflicting opinions and seeming dis- 
aster. The return of a democratic house in 1890, after the passage of 
the McKinley bill, and his own defeat as the result of another gerry- 
mander, did not alarm him. He regarded it as only an insignificant 
incident in a great conflict. To the weak-kneed among his friends, 
those who could not penetrate the future as unerringly as he did, he 
said: "Be firm; This is only a cross current, a chop sea; the tide of 
truth flows surely on beneath." 

The passage of the Wilson bill demoralized industry, and commer- 
cial de]-)ression ensued that was only relieved when under the admin- 
istration of President William McKinley the Dingley tariff bill was 
enacted. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Governor of Ohio. 

After his defeat for congress in 1890, nothing in the ordinary course 
of events could have prevented Major McKinley from becoming gov- 
ernor of Ohio. He had apparently made no plans looking toward such 
a consummation, but the drift of talk set toward him at once as the 
man to be nominated by the next republican state convention. He was 
recognized as a man of broad views — his home folk never regarded 
him as a man of one idea — and he had met all the duties which had been 
thrust upon him so well that he inspired the people with the utmost confi- 
dence. He was a safe man, his rectitude unquestioned, his devotion to 
principle unshakable. But Ohio had many able men who aspired to 
the governorship. ]\Iajor McKinley stated to his friends that he would 
be pleased with the nomination for governor, but would not enter into 
a contest for it. 

When the legislature met in January the representatives of the peo- 
ple were interviewed, and the sentiment in favor of Major McKinley 
was so overwhelming that thenceforth no other man was spoken of for 
the place by the republicans. In the campaign for congress he had 
made such a splendid canvass that the re]:)ublicans felt sure he would 
redeem the state for them. James E. Campbell, who had been elected 
governor in 1889, by a ])lurality of 10,872, had declared that he had 
made Ohio a permanently democratic state, and in order to keep it so, 
the democratic leaders thought the defeat of Major McKinley for con- 
gress would be essential. Consefjuently, they had unmercifully gerry- 
mandered the state, so that even should the republicans carry it by 20,000 
l)lurality, they could not hope to secure more than seven out of twenty- 
one congressmen. But the repul)licans were in no wise dismayed. Con- 
fidence in the party success became strong, and an unusually large 
number of candidates for nomination on the republican state ticket pre- 
sented themselves before the convention, which was held in Columbus in 
June, but there was only one name mentioned for the gubernatorial 
nomination — that of William ]\IcKinle3^ 

Wlien McKinley arrived at Columbus he received a great ovation. 
It was one of the most enthusiastic conventions Ohio had seen since the 

107 



io8 Life of William McKinley 

war of the rebellion. Ex-Governor Foraker nominated Major McKinley 
in a characteristically Ijrilliant speech, and u])on motion of Ex-Governor 
Foster, the nomination was unanimously conferred upon the major. In 
his speech of acceptance, Major McKinley made an admirable presenta- 
tion of the issues of the day, particularly as to currency and the tariff, 
and stirred his auditors to a high pitch of enthusiasm. The platform 
endorsed the "patriotic doctrine of protection,'' and likewise the 
"amended coinage act of the last republican congress, by which the 
entire production of the silver mines of the United States is added to 
the currency of the people." 

The democrats nominated Governor James E. Campbell, who had in 
the previous campaign defeated Senator Foraker. 

The campaign was formally opened in August, at Niles, McKinley's 
birthplace. But in the interim, the major spoke at soldiers' reunions, 
"harvest homes," etc. August 22i\, at Niles, he made his first formal 
speech in the campaign. There was a large political and industrial 
parade, wdhch was reviewed by the gubernatorial candidate from the 
veranda of the house in winch he was born. From the day of his 
nomination until his election, he made 13c speeches, and visited eighty- 
four out of the eighty-eight counties of the state. His speeches were 
always apt, and no man stirred the people more than he, though many 
of the campaign orators were more eloquent. There was not one,^ how- 
ever, who surpassed him in earnestness, or who more clearly defined 
the issues of the campaign. As a result, he was elected by a splendid 
plurality. 

His administration as govern(^r during the two terms was unos- 
tentatious. He was the same plain "Major" McKinley he had been 
throughout his congressional career. Red tape was abolished, and 
any one who had any business with the executive could always reach 
him. In his first inaugural address, he said : 

"I approach the administration of the ofiice with which I have been 
clothed by the people deeply sensible of its responsibilities, and resolved 
to discharg-e its duties to the best of my ability. It is my desire to co- 
operate with you in every endeavor to secure a wise, economical and 
honorable administration, and, so far as can be done, the improvement 
and elevation of the pul^lic service." 

This was the key note of his work as governor. He endeavored to 
give to the public institutions the benefit of the services of the best men 
of the state; and while there was never any question as to his stalwart 
republicanism, he always tried to prevent inefficiency and demoraliza- 
tion in the management of the state institutions through the intro- 
duction of extreme partisanship. At the inception of his administration 



Our Martyred President 109 

he realized the tendency to extravagance in pubHc institutions, and he 
advocated economy from the start, and insisted upon it through his 
gulicrnatorial career. He approved of hberal appropriations for neces- 
sities, and saw that abundant provision was made for the care of the 
helpless and unfortunate wards of the state. 

He never attempted to build up a personal machine, but acted fairly 
and justly by every interest in the state, according to his best judgment. 
Notwithstanding the arduous labor he had performed in connection with 
national affairs, he displayed, as governor, a thorough' knowledge of 
the needs of the state, and his various messages to the legislature were 
models of simplicity and directness. He advocated the preservation 
and development of the canals of the state, the improvement of country 
roads, just laws relating to labor, and other measures for the general 
good. 

The governor's sense of justice was exemplified in his first inaugural 
address, when he came to consider th.e subject of gerrymandering. He 
had several times been the victim of this vicious practice, but he did 
not permit his personal experiences to sway him in pronouncing upon 
the matter. He told the legislature that it would be necessary, under 
the new census, to redistrict the state, and said : 

"Make the districts so fair in their relation to the political divisions 
of our people, that they will stand until a new census shall be taken. 
Make them so impartial that no future legislature will dare disturb them 
until a new census and a new congressional apportionment will make a 
change imperative. Extreme partisanship in this arrangement should be 
avoided. There is a sense of fair play among the people which is prompt 
to condemn a flagrant misuse of party advantage at the expense of pop- 
ular suffrage. Partisanship is not to be discouraged, but encouraged in 
all things where principle is at stake; but a partisanship which would 
take fnnn the people their just representation, as in the case of the con- 
gressional redistricting by the last legislature, is an abuse of power 
which the people are swift to rebuke." 

Governor McKinley gave considerable time to the subject of taxa- 
tion during his term ol office, and called attention to the danger of 
recklessly authorizing local indebtedness. This he believed to be such 
an evil that he declared, "the creation of local indebtedness of counties 
and municipalities, should not be authorized by the general assembly 
without sul^mission to the people, except for great emergency." 

Governor McKinley's first term expired in 1893, and he was re- 
nominated without opposition. His democratic competitor was the 
Hon. L. T. Neal. Governor McKinley was elected by 80,000 plurality. 

In a preceding chapter Governor McKinley's sympathy with the 



no Life of William McKinley 

laboring man has been pointed out. In 1886, in the national house of 
representatives, he advocated the bill providing for arbitration between 
railroad corporations and their employes, and during his first term as 
governor of Ohio, a law creating a state board of arbitration was passed. 
He always favored legislation for the protection of workingmen in 
hazardous occupations, and of procuring for them such considerate treat- 
ment as of right belonged td them, and which could be secured by the 
enactment of laws. In 1892 he recommended legislation for the safety 
and comfort of'the employes of steam railroads; in 1893 he repeated the 
recommendation, and specifically urged the furnishing of automatic 
couplers and air brakes for all railroad cars used in the state. In the 
same year he called attention to the wonderful developemnt of street 
railways and the application of electricity thereto, and urged that legis- 
lative requirements should be made, looking to the safety of employes 
and the traveling public. He recommended, also, that the legislature 
should require that all street cars should be furnished with "vestibules," 
to protect the motormen and conductors from the severe . weather to 
which they are exposed. The legislature acted on his recommendation 
and passed such a law. 

But these were not all his services to the cause of labor. He always 
recommended arbitration of labor difiiculties when they were brought to 
his attention, and bent every effort to secure such an outcome. In this 
way the strike of the miners in the Massillon district was brought to 
a close, after every other effort at settlement had failed. About twenty- 
five mines were involved, and 2,000 mine workers had been idle fur 
eight months. The loss of earnings and business consequent upon the 
strike, amounted to about $1,000,000. When Governor McKinley was 
consulted about a settlement, he got the parties together, and, with the 
aid of the state board of arbitration, a solution of the trouble was speed- 
ily reached. This was accomplished without cost to the state, and 
with no violence or malicious destruction of i)roperty. 

The year 1894 is memorable for the labor troubles which occurred. 
It was in that year that the railway men of the country, under the 
direction of Eugene V. Del)s, quit work and tied up nearly every 
transportation line in the country. The national government ordered 
out troops to see that there Avas no interference with the carrying of 
mails, and nearly all of the states, from coast to coast, had their local sol- 
diery under arms. In Ohio, the miners' strike, in June, caused trouble, 
and a disposition was manifested to destroy property and interfere with 
the rights of people not parties to the control. Governor McKinley was 
prompt to act. He called out regiment after regiment until nearly every 
national guardsman in the state — some 3,600 — was on dut}^ 



Our Martyred President iii 

Tlie governor's action served notice upon everybody that he pro- 
posed to uphold the dignity and the good name of the state, as long as 
there was a soldier left to obey his orders. For sixteen days he re- 
mained incessantly at his post, giving orders, seeing to the comfort of 
the men and repressing any attempt to use the military rashly or unlaw- 
fully. The troops were in the field many weeks, but the people had no 
cause to complain of their doing more than their bounden duty. The 
spirit of the governor inspired the troops, and, indeed, the whole state. 
What he did was right at the time, and in the right way. He had 
been through four years of active service during the war, and he knew 
better than did the young men in the coal valleys of the state, what it 
meant to march and to fight. 

During that summer of trial, it is related that an employer of a 
large number of men then on strike asked the governor what he would 
do about ordering out the militia in a certain contingency, which it 
was supposed might be reached. The governor answered : 

'Tt is needless to ask what a public officer of Ohio w'ill do. He does 
his duty. The practical question is what can we do, and what will 
your employees do ; what can we all do properly to divert the necessity 
of using force? That is the question for immediate solution, at which 
I ha\e been engaged for some days." He had already secured the 
attendance of the state board of arbitration, and that day a meeting 
between the parties interested was held in his office, and before mid- 
night the tidings were sent abroad that the great strike on the Hocking 
Valley railway was ended. This was brought about without expense to 
the state, and wdthout any disturbance of the public peace. 

By daylight the next day, July i8, the thousands of freight loaded 
cars that had stood on switches for three weeks, the numerous coal 
mines stopped through sympathy for the strikers, or for want of trans- 
portation facilities, and the four thousand men who had been forced 
into idleness, began to stir. In less than twenty-four hours all through 
the Hocking Valley, every industry was in operation, and the credit for 
this happy outcome was due. in no small degree, to the worthy governor 
of the state. 

Another incident, showing how swift and effective were the gov- 
ernor's methods, occurred in 1895. when the Hocking Valley mines 
were suffering because of a strike. January 7 a meeting was held at 
Nelsonville of the Trades Labor Union, comprising the Hocking Valley 
mining district, for the purpose of effecting an organization and formu- 
lating a plan to relieve the distress and destitution existing among the 
miners and their families. After a full discussion of the situation, a 
committee was appointed to wait upon Governor McKinley and present 



112 Life of William McKinley 

to him, on behalf of the miners, the memorial adopted at the meeting. 
January 8, the committee called upon the governor, and made a state- 
ment relative to the condition of the miners, and the need of prompt 
relief. The governor listened courteously, and suggested that the men 
return to Nelsonville and request the mayor to call a meeting of the 
citizens to consider the question of relief. When apprised of the result 
of such a meeting, he promised to take immediate action looking toward 
the carrying out of their wishes. The meeting of citizens was called, 
as the governor had suggested, and the matter discussed. The sense 
of the gathering was that relief must be immediate and must come from 
the state. Consequently, a telegram was sent to the governor, which 
he received at 1 1 45 p. m., January 9, saying, "Immediate relief needed." 
This was enough for the governor. He at once sent messengers to the 
proprietor of wholesale groceries, a dealer in vegetables, flour, etc., a 
transfer company, and the officials of the Hocking Valley railroad com- 
pany, to meet him immediately at his rooms. The subject of the meet- 
ing was the purchase of a carload of provisions and its shipment early in 
the morning. The supplies were purchased and loaded in the cars before 
5 o'clock tiie next morning. As a result of the diligence, within nine 
hours after the receipt of the message, the carload of provisions was in 
Nelsonville ready to be distributed to the hungry. 

Governor McKinley not only purchased the supplies, but also as- 
sumed payment for them. He did not intend to ask the state to pay 
for this carload of provisions, the cost of which was nearly $1,000, but 
some of his friends learned that he had assumed the obligation, and they 
at once took the matter in hand, and secured from state officers and 
heads of departments the larger proportion of the amount, which they 
turned over to him ; and this sum, added to his own subscription, liqui- 
dated the obligation assumed by him. 

This, of course, did not suffice to permanently relieve the distress 
existing, and at various times thereafter, during January and February, 
tlie governor was called upon for assistance. He met each appeal 
promptlv, and at various times appointed committees to visit the dis- 
tressed sections, and report as to the real situation. February 19. he 
addressed a communication to the boards of trade and chamber of 
commerce in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo, requesting 
the appointment of committees to visit the mining districts and iiu'cs- 
tigate and report on the conditions there existing. 

The relief v,'i3rk w^as prosecuted systematically, and even when the 
governc>r w^as out of the city, his orders w^ere to see that every appeal 
for help was fully met. These instructions were followed, and the 
chairman of the general relief committee reported at the close of the 




LYMAN J. GAGE 
Secretary of the Treasury 



Our Martyred President 113 

work that the promptness with which Governor McKinley acted, and 
the hberal contributions made, prevented hunger and suffering on the 
part of the miners. 

The final report of the chairman of the general relief committee, 
made February 17, showed 2,723 miners out of employment, repre- 
senting a population of 10,000. It was further declared that the families 
of these miners had been made comfortable, during a period of several 
weeks, by the efforts of the relief committee, the cost being $32,796.95. 

One other feature of the reign of Governor McKinley needs to be 
mentioned, because it shows how strongly he felt that the supremacy of 
the law should be maintained at all times. At Buffalo, when he saw 
that attack made upon the assassin, he said : "See that no harm comes 
to him." He anticipated that an outraged populace might take sum- 
mary vengeance upon the miscreant, and such action did not meet his 
views. In October. 1894, at the request of the authorities of Fayette 
county, he ordered the militia to Washington Court House. A heinous 
crime had been committed there, the criminal had been apprehended 
and. with proper regard for his rights, had been given a fair trial. The 
verdict was guilty and the culprit was sentenced to the limit of punish- 
ment fixed by law^ This did not satisfy some of the boisterous spirits 
in the community, and an attempt was made to lynch the prisoner. The 
mob was held back for some time by the militia, under command of 
Colonel Coit. The soldiers were stationed in the courthouse. When 
the excitement was at its height, an attack was made upon the court- 
house, and the guardsmen fired upon the mob, killing three people. A 
great uproar resulted, many declaring the soldiers should not have fired. 
A military court was instituted to inquire into the conduct of Colonel 
Coit. and he w^as absolved from all blame. Governor JMcKinley, true to 
his convictions, sustained the brave officer. He said : 

"The law was upheld, as it should have been. and. as I believe it 
always will be in Ohio — but in this case at fearful cost. Much as the 
destruction of life wdiich took place is deplored by all good citizens, 
and much as we sympathize with those who suffered in this most 
unfortunate affair, surely no friend of law and order can justly con- 
demn the national guard, under command of Colonel Coit, for having 
performed its duty fearlessly and faithfully, and in the face of great 
danger, for the peace and dignity of the state. 

"Lynching cannot be tolerated in Ohio. The law of the state must 
be supreme o\xr all, and the agents of the law, acting within the law, 
must be sustained. 

"The ])roceedings and findings of the court of inquiry have been 
carefullv considered by me. I hereby announce my approval of the con- 



114. Life of William McKinley 

elusions of said court, which find that Colonel Coit and his officers and 
enlisted men of Fourteenth Infantry, O. N. G., acted with prudence 
and judgment, and within the law, supporting the civil authority of 
Fayette county, and in the aid of it, and acting in pursuance of lawful 
orders, and that they performed their duty with singular fidelity, and 
that through them the majesty of the law, and government by law, was 
vindicated and sustained." 

One year later another attempt at lynching was made at Tiffin, 
Seneca county. The sheriff and his deputies resisted the mob and called 
upon the governor for aid. With amazing celerity he started four com- 
panies from as many different cities, to the scene of the trouble, and 
their prompt arrival prevented the threatened disgrace. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Financial Troubles. Loyalty to Friends. 

An unfortunate event, and one which brought to its central figure 
much grief and humiHation, but nothing savoring of dishonor, occurred 
while Major McKinley was governor of Ohio. It involved him in 
financial ruin, the result of his too great confidence in a life-long friend. 
But though one friend seemingly betrayed him, the episode raised up a 
host of friends for the gentle and earnest man wdio so bravely met the 
crisis, and in a short time all the difficulties were adjusted. The gov- 
ernor found himself untrammeled by debt, as a result of the persistent 
and unsolicited action of his friends, and his future in no way jeopard- 
ized by the trying experience through which he had passed. 

yVn impartial historian cannot pass over this episode. It has been the 
su]:)ject of too many mis-statements, and justice demands that a clear 
presentation of the facts shall be made. 

In the beginning it may be said that one of Governor McKinley's 
warmest friends in Ohio was Robert L. Walker, of Youngstown. They 
had known each other from boyhood, and, measured by the ordinary 
•Standards, both had achieved success in life. Governor McKinley had 
climbed high in* the estimation of the people; had irremovably fixed liis 
name in the legislative annals of his country, and occupied the highest 
office in the gift of the people of his state. 

Mr. Walker was a capitalist, banker, and the head of numerous 
manufacturing enterprises. Among these w^ere the Farmers' National 
Bank of Youngstown, and the Girard Savings Bank, of both of which 
he was the president. The Youngstown Stamping Company, a stove 
works, and several coal mines w^ere also among his possessions. Con- 
sequently, Mr. Walker was a leading man in the community, and one 
who w-as most highly respected. His wealth w^as estimated at 
$2,500,000. 

When ]\Iajor McKinley returned to Canton after the war, and deter- 
mined to study law, he soon found himself in need of money. It was 
not a difficult task for him to obtain it, for he had a reputation for integ- 
rity, and he had the assurance that any financial obligation he contracted 
would he discharged to the utmost farthing. It was not strange, there- 
fore, in view of the long acquaintance between Major McKinley and 



ii6 Life of William McKinley 

Mr. Walker, and the differences in their circumstances, that he should 
turn to Mr. Walker for assistance. It was immediately forthcoming, 
and was repaid in good time. Subsequently, when fully launched on 
Ills political career. Major McKinley had need for money. The cam- 
paign expenses during his first race for congress were heavy, and there 
•was a mortgage on some of his wife's property which had to be paid. 
In these straits Major McKinley secured a loan of $2,000 from Mr. 
Walker. This loan was paid within two years, out of his salary as 
congressman, and from time to time other loans were made to him. 
Major McKinley's income was practically $5,000 a year — his salary 
as a congressman. He may have had an occasional fee as a lawyer, but 
it was nothing he could count on. His expenses, largely on account of 
the illness of Mrs. McKinley, were heavy, and swallowed up his salary. 
To meet his campaign assessments during the early part of his career, 
he had to borrow money, and Mr. Walker was usually the man to fur- 
nish it. After Major McKinley had attained fame in congress, no more 
campaign assessments were levied upon him, and, being, an abstemious 
and studious man, not at all given to social display, he managed 10 
accumulate about $20,000, which was invested in real estate and securi- 
ties. His chief real estate possession was his modest home in Canton. 

In the early part of 1893, Mr. Walker informed Governor McKinley 
that he was greatly in need of money, and asked that he endorse certain 
notes. These notes Mr. Walker proposed to have discounted. The 
governor did not think it necessary to inquire into or investigate the 
affairs of Mr. Walker. It was enough that his friend — the man who 
had stood by him in time of need — wanted assistance, and he rendered it. 

The governor endorsed, as he supposed, about $15,000 worth of 
Mr. Walker's paper, and dismissed the matter from his mind. The 
notes were made payable in thirty, sixty, and ninety days, and the gov- 
ernor's endorsement made them easily negotiable. 

February 17. 1893, Mr. Walker's affairs went to ruin. An assign- 
ment was made by Mr. Walker, and Youngstown was astonished beyond 
measure at the news. The failure of the Youngstown Stamping Com- 
pany to meet a judgment for $12,000 caused the assignment, and the 
next day the other Walker enterprises were engulfed in ruin. Efforts 
were begun at once, by commercial agencies and newspapers, to learn 
the extent of the failure. Banks began to dig up their Walker paper, 
and soon the governor began to receive dispatches from various parts 
of the state concerning notes which he had endorsed. He had an 
engagement to attend a bancjuet of the Ohio Society in New York at 
this time, but he canceled it and went at once to Y(^ungstown. There 
he ascertained that instead of having endorsed $15,000 worth of paper 



Our Martyred President 1 17 

for his friend, he was Hable for nearly $100,000. He had been led Lo 
believe, also, that the notes had been discounted in but three banks, but 
now it appeared many banks had them, and the governor was dumb- 
founded. He held a conference with his friends, and told them that 
fully one-half the notes he had endorsed were made out to take up old 
notes that he had endorsed, and which had not been paid. Investiga- 
tion showed that the old notes were still outstanding, and that the new 
notes added to the liabilities, until the original debt had been quintupled. 
Mr. \\'alker's liabilities were about $200,000, and his assets not one-half 
that sum. The governor was not interested, financially, in any of Mr. 
\\'alker's enterprises. 

The conference with his Youngstown friends was an earnest one, 
and various ways of meeting the situation were suggested. At the con- 
clusion of the meeting, the governor said : 'T can hardly believe this, 
but it appears to be true. I don't know what my liabilities are, but 
whatever I owe shall be paid, dollar for dollar." He at once proceeded 
to put this resolution into effect. Mrs. McKinley owned property 
valued at $75,000, which had been left by her father. On the 22d of 
Februarv, five days after the assignment of Mr. Walker, the governor 
and his wife made an unqualified assignment of all their property to 
trustees, to be used, without preference, for the equal benefit of their 
creditors. The trustees were: H. H. Kohlsaat, of Chicago; IMyron 
T. Herrick, of Cleveland, and Judge Wm. R. Day, of Canton. 

Mrs. McKinley was urged by friends to retain an interest in her 
property, but she declined to do so. Instead she turned it all over to 
Mark A. Hanna, of Cleveland, to go toward liquidating the claims 
against her husband. Governor IMcKinley, when asked at this time for 
an explanation of the situation, said: 

*T did what I could to help a friend who had befriended me. The 
result is known. I had no interest in any of the enterprises Mr. Walker 
was carrying. The amount of my endorsements is in excess of any- 
thing I dreamed. There is but one thing for me to do — one thing I 
would do — meet this unlooked for burden as best I can. I have this 
day placed all my property in the hands of trustees, to be used to pay 
my debts. It will be insufficient, but I will execute notes and pay them 
as fast as I can. I shall retire from politics, take up the practice of law, 
and begin all over again." 

His friends, however, had no intention of allowing him to do any- 
thing of the kind. Already the Chicago Inter-Ocean had started a fund 
to relieve the governor of his liabilities, and money was rapidly pouring 
in from those who sympathized with him. Governor McKinley, how- 
ever, refused to accept this expression of good feeling. He forbade 



ii8 Life ot William McKinley 

the paper to continue to receive money, and returned that taken in to 
the subscribers. 

Then some of his friends determined to raise a fund by private sub- 
scription, and pay the governor's debts. The men who undertook to 
do this were : M. A. Hanna, and Myron T. Herrick, of Cleveland ; 
P. D. Armour, Marshall Field, and H. H. Kohlsaat, of Chicago ; and 
Bellamy Stover and Thomas McDougall, of Cincinnati. The fund was 
managed by Mr. Kohlsaat, who afterwards said of the matter : 

"One of the chief reasons why the subscription plan was adopted 
was because a number of subscriptions were received anonymously and 
could not be returned. There were over 4,000 subscriptions sent in, 
and when the last piece of paper was taken up, bearing Major McKin- 
ley's name, no more subscriptions were received, and some were returned. 
No list of the subscribers was kept, and Governor McKinley does not 
know to this day. with the possible exception of four or five names, who 
contributed the money. 

"When Governor McKinley saw the publication of the subscription 
scheme he wrote to me absolutely declining to receive a dollar. Mr.' 
Hanna and his other friends told him to leave the matter alone, for if 
his friends wislied to assist him they should have the privilege." 

Myron T. Herrick was treasurer of the fund, and took up the 
paper as fast as it was presented. When the indebtedness had all been 
rei)ai(l, the trustees deeded back to Governor and Mrs. McKinley tlie 
property they had been so willing to sacrifice to preserve the governor's 
credit. The incident cannot lie considered as a reflection on the busi- 
ness ability of Governor McKinley. He did what almost any man 
would have done under like circumstances, and when he found his con- 
fidence had been betrayed, he prepared to do all in his power to prevent 
any one from suffering through an act of his. 

LOYALTY TO 11 LS FRIENDS. 

No episode in all Major McKinley's career shines out more clearly 
than his high sense of honor as evinced in his devotion to the interests 
of his political friends in national conventions. At no time did he 
allow ambition to mislead him, though there were times when he must 
have been sorely tempted. That lie was in line for the nomination for 
the ])residenc}' b.e must have known, and felt, but there is nowhere evi- 
dence of his self-seeking. He went to conventions instructed to do 
certain things, or pledged to certain interests, and all the glory and 
honor the world had to offer could not have induced him to betray the 
trust reposed in him. 

The Ohio republican statt conveiition of 1SS4 wd^ held at C^Jeve- 



Our Martyred President 119 

land, in April. Major McKinley went to Cleveland fresh from a tariff 
debate in congress, and was made permanent chairman of the conven- 
tion. The Blaine following manifestly was in the majority at the con- 
vention, bnt the Sherman men had the best organization, and most of 
the "old-time" politicians of the state were pronouncedly in favor of the 
Ohio senator. The great struggle at the convention w-as on the election 
of four delegates-at-large. Although it was well understood that For- 
aker's first choice was Sherman, the Blaine men generously acquiesced 
in his election by acclamation as a delegate-at-large. A number of 
names were theii presented for the remaining three places, and a sensa- 
tion was created when one delegate mounted a chair and nominated 
Major AlcKinley. 

Major ]McKinley from his place as presiding officer thanked the con- 
vention, but said that he could not allow his name to go before it at this 
time, as he had promised that he would not allow his name to be used 
while the names of certain candidates were before the convention. The 
uproar became tumultuous. A majority of the delegates were plainly 
in favor of the election of Major McKinley by acclamation, although 
there was some objection. One of the delegates, assuming the preroga- 
tives of the chair, put the motion, and declared it carried. Major Mc- 
Kinley ruled that the motion had not prevailed. General Grosvenor 
mounted the platform and the second time put the motion and declared 
it carried. 

Again Major McKinley ruled that the motion na^ not prevailed and 
insisted on the vote being taken on the names already submitted, exclud- 
ing his own. Once more General Grosvenor arose — this time to a point 
of order. He insisted that Major McKinley had been elected by accla- 
mation, and that the convention had now to elect two more delegates- 
at-large. The chair overruled the point of order, and amid tumultuous 
confusion ordered the balloting to go on. A delegate arose and asked 
the convention to consider Major McKinley as having been put in nomi- 
nation, despite his declination. At this there were thunders of cheers. 
From early in the balloting it w^as evident that Major McKinley was 
bound to be elected. Counties that had favored other candidates aban- 
doned them and voted solidly for the Major. After between 300 and 
400 votes had been cast for Major McKinley and it was recognized 
by everybody that he had already l^een elected, a motion was made that 
he be elected by acclamiation. Further contest was stopped, and Major 
„ McKinley was elected a delegate-at-large by acclamation. 

In the national convention at Chicago Major McKinley bore himself 
modestly, but his great quality of leadership came to the front by fou "^ 
of circumstances. He only spoke two or three times from the floor of 



I20 Life of William McKinley 

the convention, but every time he arose he attracted attention, and tlic 
influence he exerted was remarkable. At the critical time during the 
convention his was the voice that rahied the Blaine forces. Three bal- 
lots had been taken. Blaine gained on each ballot. The final and 
desperate effort was made by the other candidate under the lead of the 
dashing Foraker, in Sherman's behalf, for an adjournment. There was 
pandemonium, and there threatened to be a panic. 

In the midst of the storm Major McKinley arose. He waved his 
hand and tl.e tumult ceased. Calm and like granite he stood the master 
spirit of the convention. His short speech was carried in clarion tones 
all over the immense hall. As a friend of Blaine, he said, he recognized 
and respected the rights of the friends of other candidates to secure an 
adjournment, and concluded : 

The excitement in the convention hall had become intense. Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, the youthful New Yorker, who came finally, in oppo- 
sition to his wishes, to be associated with Major McKinley on a 
presidential ticket; George W. Curtis, the editor of Harper's WeeklJ, 
and others, were on chairs yelling to be heard. General Henderson, of 
Missouri, the chairman, was trying to quell the tumult, and the massive 
and phlegmatic Butcher, of New York, one of President Arthur's adher- 
ents, was trying with might and main to secure recognition from the 
chair. 

In the midst of the confusion Major McKinley arose. Though 
not a tall man, he seemed to tower above those around him. His fatie 
was pale, like a piece of marble statuary, except that his eyes fairly 
blazed. In clarion tones his voice rang out, and the tumult cccnsed 
It was evident that he was the dominating spirit of that convention 
For a moment he stood like a splendid granite column, and then, silence 
having been secured, said that, as a friend of Blaine, he respected the 
rights of the other candidates to secure an adjournment. He did not 
say he favored an adjournment, l)ut added : 

"Let the motion be put and let everybody favorable to the nomina- 
tion of Blaine vote against it." 

That settled it. Under Major McKinlev's leadership, assumed 
spontaneously and boldly, the Blaine men accepted the challenge, the 
motion for an adjournment was ^•oted down, and the victory wa'^s won 
It was not defeat that Major McKinley turned aside— the situation w; s 
not so serious as that— but in a crisis, when the Blaine men were getting 
demoralized and the convention was turning itself into a mob, the Majon 
leaping to the front, by one command marshaled the Blaine men into 
line and pressed them forward to their already sighted victory. Major 
McKinley was chairman of the committee on resolutions at that conveii- 



Our Martyred President , 121 

tion, and when he appeared to read the platform he received an ovation 
that was one of the features of that great event. 

]\Iajor McKinley's next appearance at a repnhhcan national conven- 
tion was in 1888, and this time he came at the head of the Ohio dele- 
gation, and in John Sherman's behalf. At this convention no candidate 
had been able to secure a majority. Sherman, Alger, Allison, Harrison, 
Gresham, and Dei)ew, all had a strong following, but none was near a 
nomination. Major McKinley. at the head of the Ohio delegation, 
instructed to vote solidly for Sherman, was one of the heroes of the 
convention. His entrance at each session was greeted with the wild- 
est enthusiasm. Day and night he was at work among the various 
state delegat'ions, laboring to secure votes for Ohio's great financier. 
On the sixth ballot a delegate voted for William McKinley, and was 
greeted by cheers which swelled again and again before silence could 
be restored. The next state that was called cast seventeen votes for 
Major McKinley, and again the cheers broke forth. The drift was 
unmistakably setting toward IMcKinley like an ocean tide. 

Everyone expected to see the Garfield nomination of 1880 repeated. 
But they were disappointed. The roll call was interrupted by the Major, 
who, leaping upon a chair at the end of the middle aisle, pale, but calm 
and determined, uttered a speech which, unpremeditated as it was, has 
seldom been surpassed for eloquence, candor and unselfish loyalty. In 
it he declared his inability to be a candidate with honor to himself, and 
proclaimed his unswerving loyalty to the Ohio chieftain. The tide was 
turned. On the seventh ballot Benjamin Harrison was named, but 
McKinley went home to Ohio stronger than ever in the hearts of his 
fellow men. 

Some time before the republican national convention of 1892, held 
in Minneapolis, Minn., June 7, Governor McKinley liad privately and 
publicly expressed himself as in favor of the renomination of President 
Harrison. Having committed himself, the governor stood by his decla- 
ration. He was elected a delegate-at-large as a Harrison man, and the 
understanding was that Ohio would vote solidly for the President'.- 
nomination. 

The convention elected Governor McKinley its permanent chairman. 
R. M. Nevin, of Dayton, was his alternate. Before he took the chair 
as presiding officer the governor specifically charged Mr. Nevin to vote 
for Harrison. Only one vote was taken on the nomination for presi- 
dent. When Ohio was called ex-Governor Foraker said Ohio asked 
time for a consultation, and after a pause the vote of the state was 
announced as: Harrison, 2 votes; William McKinley, 44. Chairman 
McKinley immediately sprang from his seat and shouted; 
"I challenge the vote of Ohio !" 



122 Life of William McKinley 

A brief and animated debate then ensued between ex-Governor 
Foraker and Governor McKinley, in which Foraker told the chairman 
that he had ceased to be a member of the Ohio delegation on assuming 
the post of presiding officer, and could not be recognized. Finally a 
roll call of the Ohio delegation was ordered, and this resulted, McKin- 
ley, 45; Harrison, i. The only vote for Harrison cast by the Ohio 
delegation was that cast by Governor McKinley's alternate. President 
Harrison was renominated on the first and only ballot, but the governor 
had 182 votes cast for him despite the fact that he was not a candidate. 
At the conclusion of the balloting Governor McKinley took the floor 
and moved that the president's nomination be made unanimous, and 
the motion carried. The governor was chosen chairman of the 'com- 
mission that officially notified the president of his nomination. 

The result of the campaign of 1892 was a surprise to both the leading 
political parties. Grover Cleveland, the democratic candidate for 
l)resi(lent, Avas elected, and both the house and senate had large demo- 
cratic majorities. The political revolution was remarkable, and was 
largely due to the populist movement, and to fusion between the popu- 
lists and democrats in the south and west. The clamor for the free 
coinage of silver, at the ratio of 16 to i, and the industrial depression 
which set m in 1893, brought Governor McKinley into the public eye 
as the man calculated to restore prosperity to the country. Meanwhile 
he adhered strictly to his duties as governor of Ohio. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Great Campaign of 1894. 

The years 1893 and 1894 were years of sore trial to the people of 
the United States. The incoming of a democratic administration and 
the fear that the tariff would be again overhauled had frightened timid 
people. Other influences combined to augment the general distrust, and 
soon a panic ensued, wdiich was widespread, and devastating in its 
eft'ects. 

Corporations were pushed to the wall, banks closed their doors, 
solvent firms sought refuge in the hands of receivers, great financial 
institutions resorted to extraordinary combinations in the hope of stem- 
ming the almost resistless tide, the people took alarm and drained the 
savings banks 6f their deposits, orders for merchandise and commodities 
stopped, and whole communities of wage-earners were discharged from 
mines, mills, factories and workshops. 

In the face of financial gloom and despair, the financiers, the busi- 
ness men. the captains of industry, exhibited courage, determination 
and the highest order of patriotism. They risked their fortunes in the 
effort to stem the current rapidly running against them. They stood 
in the ranks with angry and panic-stricken men and women and pointed 
out the folly of withdrawing money from sound and well-managed 
banks. They kept open their mills and factories until forced to close 
for want of orders. They, by their enterprise, forced a return of some 
gold to our shores. The tide of calamity following the advent of the 
democratic party to power at one time bade fair to engulf the business 
interests of the nation. 

Labor, likewise, acted heroically. Reduction of wages was accepted. 
Factories went on half time without a protest from the emplo3^ees. and 
thousands daily joined the mournful army of the unemployed with the 
cherished hope that a few weeks would bring about better times. Here 
and there the cry went up for bread or w'ork, and at such gatherings 
the socialistic spirit naturally came to the front. The hundreds of 
thousands, however, suddenly emerging from a long period of pros- 
perity, did not feel at once the pinch of poverty. They were peaceable 
and hopeful, and, like the business men of the country., turned to the 



124 Life of William McKinley 

party in power for some remedy — to the party which promised so much 
to the wage-earner. 

And what was the remedy offered? In the kite summer of 1894 a 
tariff bin was passed which deepened the shade in the picture above 
given. It brought about greater suspense in our industries. It tilled 
with uncertainty every branch of industry and trade. In fact, millions 
of anxious, careworn American citizens who had looked for statesman- 
like action found only indifference and incapacity both in the law and 
the methods employed to secure its passage. Nothing was being done 
to turn the tide and relieve the people. With no steady, courageous 
hand and comprehensive brain at the helm, national legislation had 
drifted into an uncertainty that bewildered even the friends of the admin- 
istration. At this crisis the calm wisdom, vast experience, infinite 
industrial knowledge and courageous determination of William Mc- 
Kinley was called for by the people of the United States in the most 
unmistakable manner. It does not detract from the achievements or 
reputation of any other contemporary republican leaders to say that 
there never was in time of peace such a universal demand for a states- 
man, and it is doubtful if there ever was another such campaign as that 
which McKinley opened in September, 1894. 

In this man, merely the governor of one of our forty-four states, the 
people recognized a statesman of courage and action. He was in touch 
with the labor and with the industrial and the financial interests of the 
country. In such an emergency they could rely upon his advice l)cing 
sound and for the good of the country. It is said by those who know, 
that there was not a state in the north at this crisis in the nation's history 
that did not clamor for McKinley. The Ohio republican state com- 
mittee was almost in despair at the demands that came for McKinley's 
time. Every county in Ohio wanted him to speak in it, and it was a 
physical impossibility for the committee to meet the demands and 
requests whicli poured in upon it. He was not only wanted because 
of his pleasing personality and earnest devotion to the republican partv, 
but because he of all others was best able to crystallize the sentiment of 
protection and win the country back again to the American system, undei' 
which the nation was prosperous and the people contented and happy. 

In commenting on this campaig4i, ]\Ir. Samuel G. IMcCIure, who was 
with McKinley part of the time, says : 'Tt is a simple statement of facts 
to say that the tours made by McKinley in the past seven weeks have 
no parallel in American political history. The swings around the circle 
made by Presidents Cleveland and Harrison are the only journeys in 
recent years which may be compared to them, and they were not in anv 
strict sense of the word political at all. The desire to see the chief exe 



Our Martyred President 125 

cntive of the nation in both of these cases and to do him honor were the 
great moving causes that prompted display and large attendance. But 
in the tours which McKinley made, the official function was entirely 
absent. In its stead was the wish to honor the greatest exponent of a 
great cause and to hear the tariff discussed by its master. On the part 
of McKinley it was very far from a matter of self-seeking. For years 
he has always been at the service of the republican party whenever it 
saw fit to command him and it was in his power to comply. He had 
made remarkable tours before this one, and in each instance at the request 
of the committee where he was called to speak. This was conspicu- 
ously the case tliis year. 

"The combined tours far exceeded the distance half round the world. 
It is one of the marvels of the man that he was able to undergo all the 
fatigue which this immense feat implies, and yet close the campaign in as 
good health as when he began and without having lost a pound in 
weight. Very often he was the last of the little party to retire, and 
almost invariably he was the first to rise. He seemed tireless, and every 
state committee in the Mississippi valley and beyond it apparently took 
it for granted that the gallant champion of 'patriotism, protection and 
prosperity' could not be over-worked, \\nien he consented to make 
one speech for them, they forthwith arranged half a dozen short stops 
en route, and kept him talking almost constantly from daybreak till late 
at night. He agreed to make forty-six set speeches in all during the 
campaign, and when he had concluded he had not only made them, but 
had spoken at no less than 325 other points as well. For over eight 
weeks -he averaged better than seven speeches a day. At least two of 
these dailv were to large audiences where he was compelled to talk for 
an hour or more. The others varied from ten minutes to half an hour 
in length, and were frequently addressed to crowds of five thousand 
people. On several occasions, as the special train was hurrying him 
along, he was called out for a talk before he had breakfasted, and would 
find to his surprise that one, two or three thousand persons had gathered 
at that early hour to see and hear him. It was not McKinley who sought 
all this, it was the people who sought McKinley. 

"It did not require any great perception to discover that the glow- 
ing accounts which the press associations carried about his meetings 
were in fact modest and moderate narratives of what transpired daily. 
The correspondents were expected to give non-partisan accounts, and 
did so, though some of the democratic papers, which were served l)y the 
press associations, were growling at what they assumed was the exag- 
geration the correspondents were guilty of. The fact is, the meetings 
were not overdrawn in the least. If anything, the press narratives did 



126 Life of William McKinley 

not do them full justice, simply because to have done so would have 
called forth general protests from the democratic papers and the charge 
that the accounts were highly colored. It is not strange that this should 
he the case. No one who was not with McKinley part or all of tlic 
time can form an adequate conception of tlic enthusiasm and interest 
with which he was received in all parts of the nation. It had to he seen 
to he realized." 

Another graphic story of this campaign was told by Harry Miner, 
the correspondent of the Cincinnati Times-Star, who accompanied Gov- 
ernor McKinley. Said ]\lr. Miner: 

"Governor McKinley is winding up wdiat has been, perhaps, the 
most remarkable political campaigning tour made by any man in this 
country. He has spoken in sixteen states, namely, Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michi- 
gan, Kentucky. Louisiana, West Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and 
New York. He has made as many as twenty-three speeches in one day, 
most of them, of course, being short. It has been estimated by those 
who have been with him that he has addressed two million people. 

"The audiences which have flocked to hear McKinley have been enor- 
mous. In many places the crowds that went to hear him were the largest 
ever gathered in those places upon any occasion. 

"People traveled for great distances to hear him. At Lincoln, Neb., 
there were among his hearers 500 cowboys wdio had ridden ninety miles 
on their mustangs for the sole purpose of hearing protection's chief 
exponent. At St. Paul there were several men in the audience who came 
300 miles from their homes in Dakota to hear him speak, and at Hunt- 
ington, West Virginia, a man traveled 200 miles to hear McKinley's 
speech. 

"It is probable that the largest meeting was at Hutchinson, Kansas, 
where the number of outsiders was estimated at not less than 30,000, 
coming from Texas, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma and Indian Terri- 
tory. In the Eastern States the crowds were very large, but perhaps not 
quite so much so as in the Western States. It is estimated that the 
crowd at Albany numbered not less than 10,000 persons. At Utica, 
Syracuse and Philadelphia many thousands were turned away from the 
doors of the large halls, and huge as the crowd w'as it was not so large 
as the crowd outside, which was not e\"en able to get inside of the doors. 

"It was a good deal easier for McKinley to talk to audiences this 
year on political issues than it was two years ago. These great popular 
demonstrations would seem to indicate two things — that McKinley is 
respected, confided in and admired by the people of the country, and 
that the people want to know about protection. Before he was telling 



Our Martyred President 127 

the people what would happen; now he was telling them how to undo 
what they had already done. His prophecy of two years before has been 
proved by events to be correct. 

"It would hardly be fair to accuse the committees that had charge of 
McKinley of being unfeeling, but it is certainly true that they worked 
him like a horse, or more properly speaking, like that tireless and amiable 
animal, the uncomplaining mule. From the moment that a state com- 
mittee laid hands on him they worked him without cessation, making 
him get up at six o'clock in the morning, take a bite of breakfast and 
rush out and make a speech, and then keep on making speeches until late 
at night. No word of complaint ever came from McKinley, but he was 
most awfully tired out. But once did he say anything which indicated 
that he felt he was being overworked. He addressed two immense meet- 
ings in Syracuse, N. Y., finishing his last speech shortly after ten o'clock. 
His train was not to leave until eleven, and on his way to the hotel after 
the last meeting he turned to the Mayor and expressed assumed surprise 
that he was to be allowed to waste a full hour which he might have put 
in in making another speech. The ]\Iayor was not familiar wnth McKin- 
ley's dry humor and hastened to apologize for not having arranged a 
third meeting. 

"However, the next night at Philadelphia, McKinley had a chance to 
make three speeches, and did so. 

"McKinley found a queer feature of political campaigning in the 
South. Political meetings there are usually held on Sunday. The rea- 
son for this is that men in the country districts are adverse to losing a 
day's time from their work and demand that political stumpers shall do 
their talking on the Sabbath day. ]McKinley was asked to make a few 
speeches in Mississippi and Alabamd* on Sunday, while returning from 
New Orleans, but he gently declined, of course." 

One of the most interesting of these meetings was that held at New 
Orleans, in October. The Protectionists of that state had been clamor- 
ous for Governor JMcKinley's services, but had been repeatedly refused 
by the Ohio State Committee. Finally a representative came to plead 
the case, and consent was given, the Governor's dates in Ohio being can- 
celed. His trip through the South was an ovation. Enthusiastic crowds 
greeted him all along the line, and at several places he spoke briefly. The 
meeting in New Orleans was held in an immense amphitheater accommo- 
dating more than 12,000 people. It was packed to the doors by an 
audience that was assuredly anxious to be enlightened. The New 
Orleans Picayune, a radical Democratic newspaper, gave the following 
account of the affair : 

"McKinley appears a little under middle height, and this defect of 



128 Life of William McKinley 

under size is increased by the exceeding squareness and solidity both of 
form and face. His forehead, smooth and white, overhangs eyes deep- 
set under bushy eyebrows of jet black. He has a trick, when asking a 
question, of lifting tliose eyebrows so that the latent lire in his eyes 
flashes forth suddenly and sharp. His mouth is mobile, the face clean 
shaven, the hair thin on the top and straggling to the coat collar in 
innumerable fine points. 

"McKinley looks very like the pictures which have of late been lib- 
erally distributed throughout the city. 

"In speaking, McKinley has few but effective gestures, the chief of 
which is a sort of reiterated hammering into space, as though driving a 
nail into the atmosphere. Thougli the Auditorium arena is wonderfully 
large, McKinley's voice filled it easily. And it is a voice in itself singu- 
larly rich in the variety of inflection and emphasis, deriving an added 
zest from the w^estern drawl and mannerism still clinging to it. 

"Considered simply a forensic display, McKinley's speech was exceed- 
ingly interesting. The exquisite art with which he evaded all the topics 
which, such as the Force bill, might have touched his audience too nearly, 
was admirable. His array of argument was marshaled with the skill of 
a practical debater, presenting with marvelous ability an epitome of the 
republican philosophy of politics. 

"It was but natural that, in addressing an audience so thoroughly 
Southern, Mr. McKinley should lay special emphasis on the part which 
the South had played in the history of tariff legislation. As he delineated 
the origin of the republican tariff through the effort of Southern states- 
men, the applause was fairly indescribable. From the gallery a voice 
cried out: 'Give it to them, McKinley; give it to them.' A burst of 
laughter attended this ejaculation, but the orator never smiled. He 
mopped the perspiration from his forehead, and while the din continued 
refreshed his memory from his notes. The applause again became up- 
roarious when, a few moments later, he declared that the burden of the 
present administration, 'with its free trade laws,' was the greatest burden 
the people had borne for thirty years. 

"Nor did the audience fail to respond when, by a ready object lesson, 
the speaker illustrated the operation of the tariff in relation to the manu- 
facture of glass tumblers. 'Every tumbler imported,' he said, 'represents 
the displacement of a tumbler of domestic manufacture. If you cut the 
tariff on glass and expect to receive an increased revenue, the importa- 
tion must be redoubled. Is that what you want?' 

"And the vast assembly fairly w^ent wild for five minutes. 

"Again, wdien the governor declared that the displacement of an 
American laborer meant the cessation of his wages, a voice cried out : 




MARK HANNA 



Our Martyred President 139 

'* *Tlie result is starvation.' 

With a ready answer, McKinley replied : 

" 'Like the people everywhere, are you ready to vote ?" 

"From the benches immediately in front, one of the charcoal delega- 
tion responded : '\'ote for you ;' and another supplemented with, 'Vote 
for you for the next presidency.' 

''Soon after the democratic element w^as heard from. The governor 
said : 'They said we had a splendid prosperity under President Cleve- 
land in his first administration; so we had.' 'Hear, hear,' mingled with 
cheers, rose loudly from the Old Guard. 

" 'And do you know why ?" 

" 'Xo.' from a voice in the gallery. 

" 'Because all Cleveland did was to execute the republican laws 
already in existence.' 

"And the republicans cheered. 

" 'War and treason,' resumed McKinley, 'are the w'ords of President 
Cleveland. He is a peace man in war; a war man in peace.' 

"Great laughter followed this declaration. Under cover of it. Gov- 
ernor McKinley asked Mr. Ferris the time. Cries immediately arose. 
'Go on, go on.' 'We can wait till tomorrow morning to hear that.' 

" 'Why is it.' asked the orator a moment later; 'why is it that amid 
.'ill the resources of the land we are suffering?' 

"(A voice, 'Why is it?') 

" 'I can answ-er in a word. The democrats are running the govern- 
ment, and nothing else is running. Every industry is practically stopped; 
no man can calculate the loss to the people of this country in investment, 
property, wages. W'e have been at school. It has been a universal, a 
<ort of compulsory education, from the benefits of which none have been 
excluded. (Laughter and applause.) While the tuition has been free, 
the ultimate cost has been very great. (Laughter.) We have been 
blessed with experience if we haven't been blessed with anything else.' 
I Laughter and ])rolonged applause.) 

"Then followed the most dramatic scene of the evening. Mr. Mc- 
Kinley had hitherto confined himself to an analysis in general terms of 
issues affecting all sections of the country alike. Said the orator : 'WHia^ 
party has taken from you the protection that the Republicans gave?' 

" 'The Democrats.' cried an excited voice. 'D — n them.' 

" 'When we framed the law of 1890.' declared the governor, 'we 
undertook to frame a bill based on the principles of protection. W'e per- 
mitted everything to come in free which we could not or did not pro- 
duce.' 

" 'Enough of that,' cried a voice. 'Give us the Force bill.' 

9 



130 Life of William McKinley 

"a good many people were anxious to hear McKinley on that sub- 
ject, and for a moment absolute silence reigned. A committeeman 
whispered to him: 'He calls for something about the Force bill.' 

" 'I cannot be diverted from this discussion,' said Mr. McKinley, 
looking around and speaking in his loudest voice. 'If any proper ques- 
tion be put to me I will endeavor to reply as best I can. (Wild applause. ) 
I believe in the purest and fairest debate on all public questions, and in 
my public life or my private record I have nothing to conceal.' 

"And that appeal, so eloquent, so ingenious, captured his hearers, and 
the last great burst of applause followed. When the cheers ceased to 
ring, Mr. IvIcKinley, turning first to one side and then to the other, so as 
to address comprehensively the entire assembly, delivered the eloquent 
peroration w^hich. expressing the determination of the party to discharge 
by Louisiana its duties no less sacredly than by Ohio, closed his great 
effort." 



CHAPTER X. 

Nominated for President. 

When Governor McKinley retired from the office of chief execu- 
tive of the state of Ohio, in 1895, he returned to his home at Canton, 
there to hve quietly. The great campaign of 1894 had brought him 
so close to the people, however, and so tilled them with confidence in 
his ability, that his name was soon mentioned everywhere throughout 
the land for the presidency. His modest home at Canton was tilled 
with people seeking his advice, and with politicians who were planning 
events for the future. 

There was a plethora of republican presidential timber in the coun- 
try, but no name mentioned invoked the enthusiasm among the people 
that McKinley's did. Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, ex-speaker of the 
house, -and one of the most prominent men in the party, not only because 
of his ability, but because of the notoriety acquired in his contest to 
dominate the democratic minority in the house, was a candidate. Wil- 
liam B. Allison, United States Senator from Iowa, and a man of wide 
experience and great ability, had a following, and there were still those 
who asked that John Sherman, the old Roman from Ohio, be given a 
chance. Levi P. Morton, of New York, vice-president under Harrison, 
and Russell A. Alger, of Michigan, were also in the lists. 

The conditions at that time were unusual. Not only was the tariff 
fight on again in all its intensity, but the democrats and a portion of 
the republicans had become imbued with the "silver craze" advocated 
by some of the leaders of both parties in the west. The doctrine that 
the people needed more money, and that more money meant higher prices 
nf commodities, was preached widely. Before any effort was made by 
the Republicans to counteract this teaching, it had been spread all 
through the west and south by means of books and pamphlets. The 
silver mine owners wanted their silver coined, and their argument that 
this government could coin silver as freely as it did gold, without 
disturbing values, was a specious one. and caught the fancy of many 
people. 

"Times were hard" — an old story, and any measure that promised 
relief was eagerly clutched at by those upon whom the burden of pov- 
erty rested. William McKinley had been before the people, not as a 

131 



132 Lite ul William McKinley 

candidate for president, but as the ardent advocate of measures that 
intelligent persons thought more of national prosperity than of partisan 
politics. The quick-seeing people had heard and read of his plans for 
redeeming the country and casting off its burden of distress, ''Hard 
Times," and this had brought the tide of public favor and endorsement. 
For weeks before the convention the republican public had been shout- 
ing McKinley, and in a tone that could not be ignored. The voice 
and the force of the people pressed hard upon the convention. The 
newspapers teemed with his praise, his face and record were constantly 
being presented; buttons bearing his portrait, and mottoes that epito- 
mized his principles were seen everywhere, in city, town and country, and 
thousands who had been, theretofore, but little interested in politics 
became enthusiastic champions of the man from Ohio. 

It was evident before the convention that a battle would have to be 
fought before any candidate was nominated. The "silver republicans.'" 
as they were called had determined to commit the party, if possible, to 
the free coinage of silver at the ratio of i6 to i. With the democrats, 
they had resurrected the cry of "the crime of 'jt^" and were universally 
condemning the repeal of the Sherman act, which stopped the purchase 
of silver by the government. 

The convention was held in St. Louis, Tuesday, June i6, 1896, the 
gathering place being a huge auditorium, capable of seating many thou- 
sands of people. Hon. Thomas Henry Carter, chairman of the repub- 
lican national committee, called the convention to order about 12:30 
o'clock. 

For the first time in the history of national conventions, the opening 
prayer was made by an Israelite, in the person of Rabbi Samuel Sale, 
pastor of the Shaare Emeth congregation. His invocation was devout, 
:;nd, at its close, the secretary read the call issued by the national com- 
mittee for the convention. Chairman Carter then presented the name 
of Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana as temporarv chairman. Xo 
voice was raised in opposition, and the tall, slender man. with close- 
cropped beard and mustache, came forward and delivered an address 
that was frequently interrupted by applause. It was an arraignment 
of the democratic administration for its many shortcomings, and an 
argument that the prosperity of the country at large could be secured 
only by the adoption of the principles of the republican party. Sound 
currency, protection, sympathy for Cuba, and the certainty that the can- 
didates about to be named would be the next president and vice-presi- 
dent of the United States, were the principal features of Chairman Fair- 
banks' speech, which was received with many expressions of approval. 
At its conclusion the necessary officials of the convention were ap- 



Our Martyred President 133 

pointed, the memliers of the various committees announced, and, after a 
session of less than two hours, an adjournment was had to 10 o'clock 
Wednesday. 

Between the adjournment and the coming together on the morrow, 
much effective work was done. While the sentimfnt of the delegates 
was oA-erwhclmingly in favor of "sound currency," or the single gold 
standard, there was a diversity of opinion in many quarters as to 
whether the word "gold" should be used in the platform. A consider- 
able number thought the latter was sufficiently explicit wnthout the 
word, but the insistence of others compelled a yielding of the point: 
it was decided that the all-potent word should appear. Since adjourn- 
ment Mr. Hanna has asserted that the gold plank was agreed upon by 
him or his associates l)efore the arrival of the delegates from the East, 
who were popularly credited with the formulation of the clause in 
question. 

The convention reassembled at a quarter to eleven on Wednesday, 
and was opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. W. G. Williams, after which 
the real work began. The report of the committee on permanent organ- 
ization presented the name of Senator J. X. Thurston, of Nebraska, 
as chairman, made the secretaries, sergeant-at-arms and other temporary 
officers permanent officers of the convention, and gave a list of vice- 
presidents, consisting of one from each state. 

Awaiting the report of the committee on credentials the convention 
adjourned until 2 o'clock, and at 3 that afternoon Chairman Thurston 
called the Ixxly to order. Bishop Arnet of Ohio offered the opening 
prayer and ]\Ir. ]\I. B. ^Madden of Chicago presented to the chairman 
a gavel made hum timber of a house in which Abraham Lincoln once 
li^'ed. Another gavel, carved from the homestead of Henry Clay, 
"The Father of Protection," was also presented. 

The committee on credentials then presented majority and minority 
reports, the former of which favored the seating of the Higgins dele- 
gates and those at large from Delaware as against the Addicks dele- 
gates, and the seating of the Jist of Texas delegates, which \vas headed 
by John Grant. After a warm discussion the majority report was 
adopted by the vote of 545^2 to 359>4. This vote was considered a test 
one between McKinley and his opponents and removed all doubts of 
ihe invincibility of the Ohio man. 

The full committee on resolutions met at the Lindell Hotel in the 
evening and went into secret session. The proposed platform was read 
by paragraphs, the agreement being that each paragraph should be voted 
on separately. There was unanimous accord upon the tariff plank and 
the sugar plank was accepted. A strong declaration was formulated 



134 Life of William McKinley 

for a protective duty on wools and woolens and a demand made for the 
protection of American shipbuilding and the development of American 
commerce. 

When the financial plank was reached Senator Teller of Colorado 
presented a minority report which declared in favor of the free and 
unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of i6 to i. Mr. Teller, with 
deep emotion, declared that the time had come when, if the single gold 
standard was adopted, he should be compelled to leave the party with 
which he had been associated for thirty-five years. There was much 
sympathy felt for this able leader, whose association with the republican 
party had earned for him the respect of political foes as well as friends. 
Mr. Cannon of Utah was hardly less agitated when he announced a 
decision similar to that of Teller, and Mr. Dubois of Idaho declared 
that, much as he regretted the step, he would follow Messrs. Teller and 
Cannon. Then, after earnest argument, Mr. Hartman of Montana said 
that he never would support a candidate upon the proposed platform. 

The substitute of Senator Teller received ten votes, which included 
the delegates from Colorado, California, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Wyom- 
ing, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and New Mexico. The substi- 
tute was defeated by forty-one votes. After further discussion, the 
gold plank, as it appears in the platform, was adopted by a vote of 
yeas, 40, nays 11, the member from Oklahoma having joined the silver 
men. 

The convention came together on Thursday morning, only five min- 
utes late, with all of the delegates in their seats, and the galleries packed 
to suffocation, many ladies being among the spectators. Rev. John R. 
Scott of Florida, a negro, opened with a brief and appropriate prayer. 

The first order of business was the reception of the report of the 
committee on resolutions. Senator-elect Foraker of Ohio was cheered 
as he advanced to the platform and said : "As chairman of the com- 
mittee on resolutions, I have the honor to report as follows :" 

He then read the platform in a clear, ringing voice and with dis- 
tinct enunciation. He emphasized the endorsement of President Har- 
rison, and was applauded, and when, in a loud voice and with impressive 
manner, he declared : "The republican party is unreservedly for sound 
money," the applause was greater than ever, it rising to a still more 
enthusiastic pitch when the pledge to promote international agreement 
for free coinage of silver was read. Mr. Foraker was compelled to 
stop reading and the applause continued so long that the chairman 
rapped repeatedly for order. 

The demand for American control of the Hawaiian Islands was 
warmly approved, but the convention remained mum over the proposed 



Our Martyred President 135 

building of the Nicaragua canal by the United States and the purchase 
of the Danish Islands for a naval station. If any enthusiasm was felt 
in that direction it did not manifest itself. But the sympathy of the 
people found ardent expression when the Cuban paragraph was read, 
dropping again to zero over the civil service plank. The negro dele- 
gates applauded noisily the demand for a free ballot and the condemna- 
tion of lynching. 

It took twenty-five minutes for the reading of the platform, during 
which the convention gave close attention, breaking out again into 
cheers at the close. When the tumult had subsided, Mr. Foraker moved 
the adoption of the report as the national platform for 1896. 

As Mr. Foraker reached the closing paragraph of the report Senator 
Teller left his place with the Colorado delegation and took his seat on 
the platform. He was recognized by the chairman and sent to the sec- 
retary's desk and had read the following minority report: "We, the 
undersigned members of the committee on resolutions, being unable to 
agree with that part of the majority report which treats of the subjects 
of coinage and finance, respectfully submit the following paragraph as 
a substitute therefor : 

"The republican party favors the use of both gold and silver as 
equal standard money, and pledges its power to secure the free, unre- 
stricted and independent coinage of gold and silver at our mints at the 
ratio of 16 part of silver to i of gold." 

Senator Teller then advanced to the front of the platform to 
utter his "farewell." The universal respect felt for him was shown by 
the cordial greeting of the twelve thousand people, who saw that the 
distinguished gentleman was almost overcome with emotion. It may 
be doubted wh^ether there was one in that immense assemblage who did 
not feel a sincere sympathy for the man who was taking the most 
painful step of his public career. 

He asserted that we might as well have two flags in the nation, if 
the present money system is to be maintained, for the reason that two 
flags are not more important than this all-absorbing question of gold 
and silver money. He declared that he was not actuated by the fact 
that Colorado is a silver-producing state, but he had come to the earnest 
conclusion, after twenty years of study, that bimetallism is the only 
safe money doctrine for the United States and all other countries. 

Senator Teller insisted that a protective tariff could not be main- 
tained on a gold standard, and then, with uplifted hands, declared: 
"When God Almighty made these two metals, He intended them for 
use as money." 

The senator said that the years of study which he had devoted to 



^36 Life of William McKinley 

this question had brought convictions to him which were binding upon 
Ins conscience, and it was because he was an honest man that he could 
not support the gold money plank. The declaration was received with 
cheers and hisses, and moisture gathered in the eyes of the speaker as 
he looked out over the sea of faces and felt that he had at last reached 
the parting of the ways. Then the tears coursed down his cheeks and 
his handkerchief went to his eyes. The sight caused a respectful husi'. 
to fall over the convention, while more than one friend wept in silent 
sympathy. 

^ Recovering himself, Senator Teller declared that the best thoughts 
of the world favored bimetallism, and it was advocated by the greatest 
teachers of political economy in Europe. 

"Do you suppose," he asked, "that we can take this step and leave 
the party without distress? Take any methods you please to nominate 
-your man, but put him upon the right platform, and I will support him 
I was for free men, free speech, and a free government. J was with 
the republican party when it was born. 1 have become accustomed to 
abuse, but I have voted for every republican candidate since the founda- 
tion of the party, and I have been in close communication with its dis- 
tinguished men for forty years." 

At this point, Senator Teller broke down again. The tears streamed 
over his face and he was greatly distressed. In a broken voice he 
added: 

T K 7"^ 'I ^ """' V^""'^^ ^^'^ republican party, I do not leave it in anger 
I believe that my doctrine is for the good of the people. I believe tliat 
the republican party will see the error of its way, anJ, although I mav 
never be permitted again to address a republican national convention 
I shall live in the hope that before I die this great partv will come to . 
thorough understanding oi the silver question and treat' it solemnlv and 
with the keenest interest in support of all the people " 

The vote to lay Senator Teller's motion on the table disclosed an 
mteresting state ot facts. It was supported bv seven friends in Ala- 
bama fitteen in California, his eight delegates 'of Colorado, two from 
T lorida three from Georgia, the six from Idaho, and one from Illinois 
In addition,_ his plank received the following support: Kansas, four 
votes; Michigan, one; Missouri, one; Montana, six; Nevada, six; South 
Carolina, fourteen and one-half; South Dakota, two; Tennessee, one- 
Utah, six; Virginia, five; Wyoming, six; and in the Territories- Ari- 
zona six; New Mexico, three, and Oklahoma, one, making one hundred 
and five and one-half votes m all. The vote for the majoritv report 
was eight hundred and eighteen and one-half ' 

Senator Teller, who was still on the platform, asked permission 



Our Martyred President 137 

from the cliairinan to introduce Senator Cannon of Utah, who desired 
to read a statement from tlie silver men. The manner of Senator Can- 
non was defiant and quickly stirred up impatience. He declared he 
would bow to the majority in the matter of votes, but would never bow- 
when a question of principle was at stake. He said they would with- 
draw from the convention, and he predicted trouble in the future for 
the republican party. This was greeted with hisses and urgent requests 
for him to sit down. In the midst of the storm, the chairman turned to 
Senator Cannon and shouted : "The republican party do not fear any 
declaration." 

This threw the convention into a tumult of enthusiasm. Men 
sprang to their feet, swung flags and shouted at the top of their voices. 
Senator Cannon calmly awaited the subsidence of the storm, when he 
continued with his generalities, and read the list of free silver men who 
would leave the convention. The names of the signers were greeted 
with hisses, and some one in the rear called out, "Good-by, my lover, 
good-by," as Senator Teller and his associates filed out of the hall. 
marching down the main aisle. The whole convention was again on 
its feet yelling, waving flags, hats and fans, while the band played pa- 
triotic airs and the assemblage sang the chorus, ''Three Cheers for the 
Red. White and Blue." 

The silver delegates who withdrew were Congressman Hartman, of 
Montana ; Senator Cannon, Congressman Allen and Delegate Thomas 
Kearns, of Utah ; Senator Pettigrew, of South Dakota ; Delegates Cleve- 
land Strother. of Nevada; the entire Idaho delegation of six, headed 
by Senator Dubois; the Vv'hole Colorado delegation of eight, including 
Senator Teller, the total number of bolters being twenty-one, including 
four senators and two representatives. 

\\"aiting until the excitement had subsided, the chairman announceil 
in deliberate fashion : "Gentlemen of the Convention, there seem to 
be enough delegates left to do business. (Great cheering.) The chair 
now asks that a gentleman from JMontana who did not go out" — cheers 
drowned the rest of the sentence, and cries were made for Lee Mantle, 
who was asked to come to the platform, but declined. 

On the call of states for nominations for the presidency, the first 
response was from Iowa. R. M. Baldwin, of Council Bluffs, nominated 
Senator W. B. Allison, in a glowing tribute to Senator Allison's worth 
and services. 

Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts, in a speech of characteristic elo- 
quence, nominated Hon. Thomas B. Reed. 

Hon. Chauncey ]\I. Depew received a warm welcome as he made 
his way to the platform to nominate Governor Levi P. Morton, of 
New York state, which he did in his usual felicitous style of speech. 



138 Life of William McKinley 

Then came the call of Ohio. Amid intense interest and expectation 
Governor Foraker went to tlie platform and when silence had been 
obtained he said : 

"Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention : It would be 
exceedingly difficult, if not entirely impossible, to exaggerate the dis- 
agreeable situation of the last four years. The grand aggregate of the 
multitudinous bad results of a democratic national administration may 
be summed up as one stupendous disaster. It has been a disaster, how- 
ever, not without, at least, this one redeeming feature — that it has been 
fair ; nobody has escaped. (Loud laughter. ) * * * * 

"If we make no mistake here, the democratic party will go out of 
power on the 4th day of ]\larch, 1897 (applause), to remain out of 
power until God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy and goodness, shall 
see fit once more to chastise His people. (Loud laughter and applause.) 

"So far we have not made any mistake. We ha^'e adopted a plat- 
form which, notwithstanding the scene witnessed in this hall this morn- 
ing, meets the demands and expectations of the American people. 

"It remains for us now, as the last crowning act of our work, to 
meet again that same expectation in the nomination of our candidates. 
What is that expectation? What is it that the people want? They 
want as their candidate something more than 'a good business man' 
(an allusion to Mr. Depew's characterization of Governor Morton). 
They want something more than a popular leader. They want some- 
thing more than a wise and patriotic statesman. They want a man 
who embotlies in himself not only all these essential qualifications, but 
those, in addition, which, in the highest possible degree, typify in name, 
in character, in record, in ambition, in purpose, the exact opposite of 
all that is signified and represented by that free-trade, deficit-making, 
bond-issuing, labor-assassinating, democratic administration. (Cheers.) 
I stand here to present to this convention such a man. His name is 
William McKinley." 

At this point pandemonium was let loose, and the convention gave 
up to unrestrained yelling, cheering, horn-blowing, whistling, cat-call- 
ing and all the other devices common to such occasions. 

After at least twelve minutes of this kind of proceeding the chair 
began to rap for a restoration of order, but without avail. 

Senator-elect Foraker stood during all this wild scene smiling his 
approval. Mr. Flepburn, of Iowa, had in the meantime been called to 
the chair by Senator Thurston, but just when he had nearly restored 
order, Mrs. H. W. R. Strong, of California, who had presented some 
of the plumes that were waving in honor of Ohio's choice, made her 



Our Martyred President i39 

appearance on the floor, waving one of them, and another uncontrollable 
outbreak occurred. During the interval of confusion, a three-quarter 
face, life-size sculptured bust of McKinley was presented to Mr. For- 
aker by the republican club of the University of Chicago. The por- 
trait was in a mahogany frame, decorated with red, wdiite and blue rib- 
bons, and with a bow of maroon-colored ribbons forming the colors 
of the university. The portrait was the work of Harris Hirsch, and 
was presented by Dr. Lisston H. Montgomery, of Chicago, with a let- 
ter signed by H. L. Ickes, president of the club. It was accepted by 
Senator-elect Foraker in dumb show. 

After twenty-five minutes of incessant turmoil Mr. Foraker was 
allowed to resume his speech. 

He spoke of the great champions of republicanism in the past, eulo- 
gizing I\Ir. Blaine particularly, and continued : 

"But, greatest of all, measured by present requirements, is the 
leader of the house of representatives, the author of the McKinley bill, 
which gave to labor its richest awards. No other name so completel} 
meets the requirements of the occasion, and no other name so absolutely 
commands all hearts. The shafts of envy and malice and slander and 
libel and detraction that have been aimed at hnn lie broken and harmless 
at his feet. The quiver is empty, and he is untouched. That is be- 
cause the people know him, trust him, believe him, and will not permit 
any human power to disparage him unjustly in their estimation. 

"They know that he is an American of Americans. They know 
that he is just and able and brave, and they want him for president of 
the United States. (Applause.) They have already shown it— not m 
this or that state, nor in this or that section, but in all the states and m 
all the sections from ocean to ocean, and from the Gulf to the Lakes. 
They expect of you to give them a chance to vote for him. It is our 
duty to do it. If we discharge that duty we will give joy to their hearts, 
enthusiasm to their souls and triumphant victory to our cause. (Ap- 
plause.) And he' in turn, will give us an administration under which 
the country wall enter on a new era of prosperity at home and of glory 
and honor abroad, by all these tokens of the present and all these prom- 
ises of the future. In the name of the forty-six delegates of Ohio, I 
submit his claim to your consideration." (More applause.) 

The high-water mark of enthusiasm was reached when Senator 
Thurston rose to second the nomination of McKinley, which he did in 
eloquent and forceful words. 

In the midst of cries of "vote," Governor Hastings placed in nom- 
ination Matthew Stanley Quay, at the conclusion of \yhich, amid a 
profound hush, the convention began balloting for a nominee for nresi- 
dent of the United States. 



140 Life of William McKinley 

Alabama led off with 1 for Morton and 19 for McKinley, Arkansas 
and California following with a solid vote for McKinley. Connecticut 
gave 5 for Reed and 7 for McKinley; Delaware, its full vote for Mc- 
Kinley; Florida, 8 for McKinley; Georgia, 2 for Reed, 2 for Quay, 
and 22 for McKinley. 

When all of the states had been called, the chairman stated, before 
the announcement of the result, that application had been made to him 
for recognition by delegates of the defeated candidates to make a cer- 
tain motion. He thought it the fairest way to recognize them in the 
order in which the nominations had been made. He then announced 
that William McKinley ha^l received 661 1 votes. 

Before the chairman could get any further, the enthusiasm of the 
convention broke all bounds. Every man was on his feet, shouting, 
hurrahing, cheering, swinging hats and canes in the air, waving tlags 
and banners and the pampas plumes of California, while through the 
Niagara-like rush and roar w^ere caught the notes of "My Country, 'Tis 
of Thee," as the band played wnth might and main in its attempt to gain 
the mastery of the cyclone. The women, if possible, were more frantic 
than the men. Parasols, fans, opera-glasses, gloves — anything, every- 
thing — were compelled to help in tlie magnificent burst of enthusiasm 
which swept over and submerged all alike, until it looked as if order 
could never again be evolved from the swirling pandemonium. 

Finally, after a long, long time, tlie chairman gained a chance to 
complete the announcement (^f the vote. It was: Thomas B. Reed. 
84-I; Senator Quay. 6U ; Levi P. Morton, 58; Senator Allison, 35:^. 
and Don Cameron, i. 

Senator Lodge, rising in his delegation, in a forceful speech moved 
to^ make the nomination of Mr. McKinley unanimous. Mr. Hastings, 
of Pennsylvania, who had nominated Quay, seconded the motion, as did 
Thomas C. Piatt on behalf of New York, Mr. Henderson of Iowa, and 
J. Madison Vance of Louisiana. In answer to loud calls Mr. Depew 
mounted his chair in the back of the room, where the rays of the sun 
beamed on his countenance, which itself w^as beaming with' good humor, 
and delivered a short and characteristically humorous speech. 

The chair then put the question, ''Shall the nomination be made 
unanimous?" and by a rising vote it was so ordered, and the chair 
announced that Mr. W^illiam McKinley of Ohio was the candidate of 
the republican party for president of the United States. 

The convention completed its work by the nomination of Garrett 
A. Hobart, of New Jersey, for the office of vice-president. 



CHAPTER XL 

First Presidential Campaign. 

Governor AlcKinley was formally apprised of his nomination for the 
presidency June 29 by the committee appointed by the convention. Gov- 
ernor McKinley received the committee on the veranda of his home. 
The streets about the house were filled with people, men, women and 
children, who listened with great interest to the proceedings. Senator 
Thurston, of Nebraska, speaking for the committee, informed the gov- 
ernor of the honor the convention had conferred upon him, and said : 

"We respectfully request your acceptance of this nomination and 
your approval of the declaration of the principles adopted by the con- 
vention. We assure you that you are the unanimous choice of a united 
I^arty, and your candidacy will be iminediately accepted by the country 
as an absolute guarantee of the republican success. 

"Your nomination has been made in obedience to popular demand, 
whose universality and spontaneity attest the affection and confidence 
of the plain people of the United States. By common consent you are 
iheir champion. Their mighty uprising in your behalf emphasizes the 
sincerity of their conversion to the cardinal principles of protection and 
reciprocity as best exemplified in that splendid congressional act which 
hears your name. * * * 

"But your nomination means more than the indorsement of a pro- 
tective tariff, of reciprocity, of sound money, and of honest finance, for 
all of which you have so steadfastly stood. It means an endorsement 
of your heroic youth, your faithful years of arduous public services, 
your sterling patriotism, your stalwart Americanism, your Christian 
character, and the purity, fidelity and simplicity of your private life. 
In all these things you are the typical American; for all of these things 
you are the chosen leader of the people. God give )^ou strength so to 
bear the honor and meet the duties of that great office for which you 
are now nominated, and to which you will be elected, that your admin- 
istration will enhance the dignity and power and glory of this republic 
and secure the safety, welfare and happiness of its liberty-loving people." 
Tn his reply to Senator Thurston, Governor McKinley said : 
"To be selected as their presidential candidate by a great party 



142 Life of William McKinley 

convention, representing so vast a number of the people of the United 
States, is a most distinguished honor, for which I would not conceal my 
high appreciation, although deeply sensible of the great responsibilities 
of the trust, and my inability to bear them without the generous and 
constant support of my fellow countrymen. Great as is the honor con- 
ferred, equally arduous and important is the duty imposed, and m 
accepting the one I assume the other, relying upon 'the patriotic devo- 
tion of the people to the best interests of our beloved country, and the 
sustaining care and aid of Him without whose support all we do is 
empty and vain. 

"Should the people ratify the choice of the great convention for 
which you speak, my only aim will be to promote the public good, 
which in America is always the good of the greatest number, the 
honor of our country, and the welfare of the people." 

He then discussed the questions to be settled by the election, and 
concluded as follows : 

"The platform adopted by the republican national convention has 
received my careful consideration, and has my unqualified approval. It 
is a matter of gratification to me, as I am sure it must be to you and 
republicans everywhere, and to all our people, that the expressions of 
Its declarations of principles are so direct, clear and emphatic. They 
are too plain and positive to leave any chance for doubt or question 
as to their purport and meaning. But you will not expect me to dis- 
cuss Its provisions at length, or in detail at this time. It will how- 
ever, be my duty and pleasure, at some future day, to make to you, and 
through you to the great party you represent, a more formal accept- 
ance of the nomination tendered me. 

"No one could be more profoundly grateful than I for the mani- 
festation of pul)lic confidence of which you have so eloquently spoken 
It shall be my aim to attest this appreciation by an unsparing devotion 
to what I esteem the best interests of the people, and in this work I ask 
the counsel and support of you, gentlemen, and of every other friend 
of the country. The generous expressions with which you, sir convey 
tiie_ official notice of my nomination are highly appreciated, and'as fullv 
reciprocated, and I thank you, and your associates of the notification 
committee, and the grefit party and convention at whose instance ^-ou 
come, for the high and exceptional distinction bestowed upon me" ' 

His letter of acceptance which followed some weeks later was a mas- 
terly document, and clearly indicated the studv he had given to all the 
great questions then agitating the minds of the people. 

Though not in accordance with the forms and ceremonies the cam- 
paign was already opened. For months the people had been discussino 



Our Martyred President 143 

the silver question, and 16 to i was heard on every side. The tariff 
had seemingly disappeared as an issue, and everybody was interested 
in the theory — not new, but freshly agitated — that all the people needed 
to insure prosperity was more money per 'capita. 

Sentiment was rapidly crystallizing when the democratic national 
convention was held. The populists had already held their convention 
and nominated William Jennings Bryan, of Nebraska, on a platform 
demanding free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to i, and other 
things too numerous to mention. The silver craze had spread through 
the rank and file of the democratic party so fully that it was seen that 
the national convention would be committed to the doctrine. Many of 
the eastern democrats protested against such action, and the forcing it 
upon the convention resulted in a split, the bolters taking the name 
of "Gold Democrats," and putting a national ticket in the field. The 
democratic national convention was held in Chicago, in the Coliseum. 
Mr. Bryan came to the convention as a delegate, and a pronounced cham- 
pion of the silver theory. He was still' a democrat, and had not accepted 
the nomination tendered him by the populists. Neither had he been 
regarded as a prominent candidate for the presidency. He was young, 
and there were wheel-horses in the party to be rewarded. "Silver 
Dick." as the Hon. Richard P. Bland, of Missouri, was called, because 
of his long defense of silver in the house of representatives as a money 
metal, was one of the most formidable candidates, and Governor Horace 
Boies, who had succeeded in winning the republican state of Iowa for 
the democrats, also had a large following. But Mr. Bryan had already 
achieved fame as an orator, and during the convention he took the plat- 
form and made a most brilliant speech in favor of the free coinage of 
silver. The address so electrified the convention that delegation after 
delegation voted for Mr. Bryan when the balloting began, and before 
the roll call was finished it was seen that he was nominated. 

Following the nomination of Mr. Bryan began a campaign the like 
of which had perhaps never been seen in any country. It was full of 
spectacular features, and there was more eloquence to the square inch 
than had ever been known before. Everybody turned speech-maker, 
and few places were regarded as too sacred, and few moments as im- 
proper, in which to discuss the momentous questions. On the streets, 
in railway cars, on steamboats, in hotels, stores, factories, and at the 
family board the great question was threshed out. The excitement 
was intense. On both sides the people believed a crisis had arrived. 
The republicans declared the election of Mr. Bryan meant repudiation 
of obligations, ruin and national dishonor. The democrats retorted 
that there could be no repudiation in sticking to the money of the con- 



144 ^1^^ ^t William McKinley 

stitution and the argument was so apparently conclusive that the repub- 
licans became alarmed. It was found that the silver belief was fully 
grounded — the people of the great West seemed impressed with the 
idea tliat more money would make times better, and more money could 
easily be coined. The government had practically ceased under the 
Cleveland administration to purchase silver bullion. The mines of Col- 
orado, Utah, Arizona, New Alexico, Montana, and other sections, could 
produce the metal in abundance, and for the government to coin it intr 
money would produce the supply of money necessary to relieve the 
stringency. 

Such arguments appealed to those who felt' the pinch of poverty, 
and the republicans found it necessary to send their best and most elo- 
quent s[)eakers into the held, in order to counteract the influence of the 
silver advocates. Printing presses throughout the land were set to 
work to print pamphlets and tracts to explode the democratic doctrine, 
and great discs of base metal were cast to show how much, silver at the 
prevailing price would have to go into a dollar, to make it the equivalent 
of a gold dollar. The bullion value of the silver in a dollar was at that 
time about 50 cents, and the object lesson had its effect upon certain 
minds. 

As indicative of the arguments used by the leading orators during 
the campaign, the following examples are given : 

Congressman Joseph C. Sibley, of Pennsylvania, one of the promi- 
nent Eastern men who supported the doctrine of free coinage of silver, 
said in one of his speeches : 

''Silver is the only stable standard of values, maintaining at all times 
its parity with every article of production except gold. The ounce of 
silver, degraded by infamous legislation from its normal mintage value 
of 1.2929 an ounce to about 60 cents, has kept its parity with the ton of 
pig iron, the pound of nails, and all the products of our iron mills. 
The ounce of silver has maintained its parity with the barrel of petro- 
leum, with granite blocks, with kiln-burnt bricks. With lumber grow- 
ing scarcer year by year it still keeps its parity. It is at parity with 
the ton of coal; with the mower, reaper, thresher, the grain drill, the 
hoe, and the spade. Silver at 1.2929 and beef at 7 cents per pound in 
the farmer's field has kept its parity, and the ounce of silver at 60 cents 
buys today beef at 2 cents per pound on foot. The pound of cotton 
and the ounce of silver have never lost their level. No surer has the 
sun indicated on the dial the hour of the day than has the ounce of 
silver shown the value of the pound of cotton. As surely as the moon 
has given high or low tide, just so surely has the ounce of silver given 
the high and low tide prices of wheat. The ounce of silver has main- 




UNITED STATES SENATOR WILLIAM E. MASON 



Our Martyred President 145 

tained its parity with your railway dividends, with the earnings in your 
shops and factories, in all departments of effort. 

"If parity with gold is demanded, and the secretary of the treasury 
construes the law to mean whenever demanded to pay gold, then let us 
maintain the parity by reducing the number of grains in the gold dollar 
from 23.22 grains pure gold to 15 grains, or to such number of grains 
as will keep it at parity. While we may wrong by so doing the creditor 
class, through the increased value of the products of human industry, 
we must remember that for every one creditor there are a thousand 
debtors; and we should remember that the aim of the government is the 
greatest good to the greatest number, and also the minimum amount of 
evil. But no such drastic measure is necessary. Parity may be main- 
tained and every declaration of governmental policy fully met by accept- 
ing for all dues, public and private, including duties upon imports, silver 
and paper issues of the nation of every description whatsoever. 

"In all the gold-standard nations destitution and misery prevail. 
With great standing armies in Europe outbreaks are not of frequent 
occurrence,' and yet one rarely peruses his paper without reading of 
these outbreaks. In Nebraska and Kansas, the land of wheat and corn, 
we read of starving households ; even in Ohio appeals are sent out for 
the relief of thousands of starving miners, and yet men have the temer- 
ity to tell us that the evils arise from overproduction. 

"Men tell us that there is an overproduction of silver, and that its 
price had diminished in comparison with gold because of its great rela- 
tive increase. Such statements are not only misleading, but absoluteh- 
false. Figures show that in 1600 we produced 27 tons of silver to 1 
ton of gold; in 1700, 34 tons of silver to i ton of gold; in 1800, 32 
tons of silver to i ton of gold; in 1848, 31 tons of silver to i ton of 
gold; while in 1880 the production of silver had declined until we pro- 
duced 18 tons of silver to i ton of gold ; and in 1890 but 18 tons of silver 
to I ton of gold ; and that, instead of the ratio of coinage being increased 
above 16 to i, if relative production of the two metals is to determine 
the ratio, then the ratio should have been diminished rather than 
increased, and confirms the fact that merely the denial of mintage upon 
terms of equality with gold is responsible for all depreciation in the value 
of silver bullion. 

"All the silver in the world today can be put in a room sixty-six feet 
in each dimension, and all the gold can be melted into a cube of 18 or 
20 feet. There are today less than twenty-five millions of bar silver in 
all Europe. Mr. St. John, the eminent banker of New York, has stated 
that there was not over five millions of silver that could be made avail- 
able to send to our mints. Begin to coin silver to the full capacitv of 

10' 



14^ Life of William McKinley 

our mints, and we would have to coin it for twenty years before giving 
to each inhabitant a per capita circulation that France, the most pros- 
perous nation in the world today, possesses. 

"The struggle today is between the debtor and creditor classes. 
With one-half the world's money of Imal account destroyed, the creditor 
can demand twice as much of the product of your field, your shop, and 
your enterprise and labor for his dues. In this struggle between debtor 
and creditor the latter has taken undue advantage and by legislation 
doubled and trebled the volume of debt. For example, suppose you 
had given a note to your neighbor promising to pay, one year after date. 
1,500 bushels of wheat. You thresh the grain, measure it into the bin. 
and notify your creditor that the wheat is at his disposal. He goes to 
the granary, sacks the wheat, and then brings up your notes and states, 
'I have taken 500 bushels, which I have endorsed on your note. I will 
call on you for the balance when next year's crop is harvested.' You 
say : 'Why did you not take all the wheat and let me make full pay- 
ment?' The note-holder answers: T did take all the wheat, and there 
were only 500 bushels in the bin instead of 1,500.' 

You fail to understand how that can be possible. You know that 
you threshed out and measured into that bin 1,500 bushels of wheat. 
You go to the granary and find that it is true. No wheat is there, but 
there appears to be an enormous lot of wheat upon those wagons for 500 
bushels, and you ask the note-holder: 'Who measured this wheat? and 
let me see how you measured it.' You see something in the form of a 
measure about as large as a washtub, and you ask him what that is. He 
tells you that is the half-bushel measure with which he measured your 
wheat; but you reply: 'My dear sir. that holds more than half a bushel; 
that measure will hold six pecks :' He answers : 'Correct, it does hold 
six pecks, but it now takes twelve pecks to make a bushel, instead of 
four pecks. Together with other friends who had wheat coming to 
us we went before the committee on coinage, weights and measures and 
secured the passage of a legislative enactment that it should require 
twelve pecks instead of four pecks to make a bushel. W^e have secured 
this legislation for the proper protection of the holders of wheat obliga- 
tions, for our own security, and for fear that we should became timid 
and lose confidence in your ability to pay unless we changed the standard 
of measure.' But you reply: 'Sir, we who have obligations maturing, 
contracts long standing, have never asked or consented to the enactment 
of such legislation. Our representatives in congress never permitted 
us to understand that any such legislation was pending.' He replies ; 
*Sir, you might have known it had you desired to do so, or had you 
kept vourself as well posted in legislative affairs as do the holders of 



Our Martyred President 147 

obligations calling for products of the soil for payment. We have our 
representatives in congress. We reward them for their fidelity to our 
interests ; we punish them for fidelity to yours.' 

"This, in my judgment, is not a far-fetched illustration, but depicts 
the exact condition against which production today protests. The debt- 
or's obligation, true, does not call for wheat in specific terms. It calls 
for dollars, but by legislation we have made the dollar three times a> 
large in purchasing power or in measuring values as it was before. We 
talk about gold being the only money of intrinsic value, and attempt ty 
Ijefog and mystify the masses by telling them that it has intrinsic value, 
when its value is merely the artificial product of legislation. 

"Enact a law, to be rigidly enforced, providing that no meat of any 
kind, whether 'fish, flesh or fowl,' except mutton, shall be used for food. 
What will be the intrinsic value of your beef cattle, of your swine, your 
poultrv, and your fish tomorrow? The mutton-headed monometallists 
would tell you that the great increase in the value of mutton was be- 
cause of its intrinsic worth. Let this nation and the commercial nations 
of the globe enact a law tomorrow, that neither cotton, nor silk, nor 
fabric should be used for clothing or covering, forbid the factories of 
the world to spin or weave aught but wool, and what will be the intrinsic 
value of cotton or silk thereafter? Wool will be king; its value will be 
enhanced, but cotton, hemp, and silk will be as valueless as weeds or as 
gossamer webs. 

"\\'ith the mints open to free and unlimited coinage of both gold 
and silver there has never been a moment when silver has not maintained 
its paritv with gold, and a ratio of 16 to i commanded a premium 
of more than 3 per cent over gold. And if, by some fortunate dis- 
coveries to-morrow, gold should be found in great quantities sufificient 
to lessen the income of the annuitant, the bondholding, or the fixed- 
income class, there would arise a demand f(^r the demonetization of 
gold and the establishment of the pearl, ruby, or diamond standard of 
values. Whatever standard can bring to grasping hands and greedy 
hearts the most of the toil, the sweat, and unrequited efforts of his 
fellowman. this standard will be demanded by the representatives of 
greed, and must be resisted by those who represent humanity and Chris- 
tianity." 

United States Senator Julius C. Burrows, of Michigan, in replying 
to the free coinage argument, said : 

"Coin silver dollars at the ratio of 16 to i or 20 to i and you have 
a dollar intrinsically worth less than the gold dollar, and coin such a 
dollar as that — permit the owners of silver bullion to bring to the mints 
of the United States, and have manufactured into dollars, a certain num- 



148 Lite of \\ illiani Mclvinlcy 

ber of grains, worth in bvillion much less than after they are coined, is a 
proposition to which I cannot give my assent. 

"But it has been stated and repeatedly asserted that the present silver 
dollar is the 'dollar of the fathers.' That statement is not true. It is not 
the 'dollar of the fathers,' and the fathers if living would repudiate such 
an assumption as a reflection u])on their integrity and sagacity. The 
silver dollar of the fathers was intended to be and was in fact practically 
eciual to the gold dollar in intrinsic value. 

"This contest for the free coinage of silver began in 1874. and it 
has been prosecuted with unceasing vigor ever since. Why ? Up to that 
time the silver dollar was worth more, intrinsically, than the gold dollar, 
being worth in 1873 $1.03 as compared with gold. 

"Up to that time the coinage of silver dollars in this country had 
been very limited. One would think from the tenor of this discussion 
that all at once a great outrage had been perpetrated upon silver, that it 
had been stricken from our monetary system at a blow, by the force of 
law, when the fact is that from 1793 to 1805, ^ period of twelve years, 
we coined but 1,439,517 silver dollars. From 1806 to 1836, a period of 
thirty years, we did not coin a single silver dollar. From 1836 to 1873, 
:i period of thirty-seven years, we coined only 6,606,321 silver dollars. 
In eighty years we only coined a total of 8,045,838 silver dollars. So 
long as silver remained more valuable than gold there was no clamor 
for the free coinage of silver, but in 1878, when resumption was an 
assured fact, and the people had decreed that they would keep faith with 
their creditors and pay their unredeemed promises, then the champions 
of cheap money turned tlieir attention to silver, finding it had declined in 
value from $1.03 in 1873 to $0.89 in 1878. 

"The battle is now renewed under the ])]ea of bimetallism, and the 
advocates of the free coinage of silver seek to delude the people by 
asserting that they are in favor of bimetallism while its opponents are 
not. We have bimetallism to-day. 

"The free and unlimited coinage of silver at any of the ratios named 
will destro^' bimetallism and will reduce this countrv to a sinofle stand- 
ard, that of silver, and that depreciated, and 1 am suspicious that for thir 
\-ery reason some gentlemen are anxious for its triumph. The opening 
of the mints of the United States to the unrestricted minting for individ- 
uals of silver into legal dollars at any ratio to gold less than the com- 
mercial value of both metals, under the pretense of aiding the cause of 
bimetallism or for the purpose of establishing or maintaining bimetal- 
lism in the United States, is simply playing upon the sentiment and 
credulity of the American people. 

Mr. Bryan toured the country during the campaign, and spoke in all 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
Assassinated in 1865 



Our Martyred President 149 

sections of the country. lie went into the eastern states, where the 
opponents of the free silver doctrine were strongest and made numerous 
speeches, but did the most of his work in the south and west His fame 
as an orator drew thousands to hear him, and under the spell of his 
eloquence millions were brought to believe with him. When the cam- 
paign w^as well under way. and the Republican leaders had in a meas- 
ure checked the spread of the free silver doctrine, they put forward 
again the doctrine of a protective tariff, and declared it to be the real 
issue before the people, and its maintenance necessary to the renewed 
prosperity of the naticm. 

Governor McKinley remained at his h(jme in Canton during the 
exciting summer of 1896 and there received the homage of hundreds 
of thousands of his fellow citizens. "People of all ages and classes 
visited him and day after day he made speeches to those who asked 
for light. He exhibited his wonderful familiarity with the concerns 
of the people, by pointed remarks touching the welfare of every interest 
that sought his advice, and proved that the people had made no mis- 
take in their estimate of him. 

The result of the election was, McKinley, 7.061,142 votes; Bryan, 
6,460.677. In the electoral college ]^IcKinley had 271 votes and Bryan 
176. 

Senator Hanna, who had managed the campaign, gave the follow- 
ing descrijition of it in a speech before the Union Club at Cleveland : 

"Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen of the Union Club — I have a 
great feeling of relief tonight. Such a feeling of relief and joy as 
I never had before, and I never was so hapjjy as I am tonight. (Cries 
of "so are we." and applause.) My friends, this comes very near 
to being an anniversary. About two years- ago — not quite that long 
— I began mv work nf devotion and love to our chief. Tw^o years 
ago I took from him my inspiration. When he laid upon me that 
confidence which he left and said to me, 'My friend, I trust you wath 
my future,' he also said. ']\iark, there are some things I will not do 
to be president of the United States (applause and cheers), and 1 
leave my honor in your hands.' And from that day, nearly two years 
ago, began this campaign. 

"It was rather quiet at first (laughter), what the boys are likely 
to call 'a still hunt,' but it is true that it had its birthday nearly two 
years ago today. I embarked upon that duty with a full heart for 
a man whom I loved because I had learned to respect and honor him. 
It was a mission of love inspired by that noble character which has 
no peer in the world. (Tremendous applause). I will not weary you 
with an account of details of the early stages of that campaign. I 



150 Life of William McKinley 

called to aid men who had known the effect of Maj. McKinley's mag- 
netism and who loved and admired him even as I did, and the terri- 
tory in which I found them was not bounded by Ohio, but reached from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. (Applause.) Scores and hundreds of 
men who loved him as I did rallied with McKinley as the word on 
their lips and their country their prayer. (Applause and cries of 'good, 
good.') The next epoch was that wonderful convention at St. Louis, 
where McKinley received 661 votes. I believe those figures are right. 
You all read of its marvelous scenes. \A^hen I took that charge of 
McKinley's honor I swore to my Maker that I would return it unsul- 
lied. (Applause and cheers). And when I returned from that mem- 
orable convention, ])roud and satisfied with the work his friends had 
done, I went to Canton and laid my report at the feet of my chieftain, 
and I said to him, 'McKinley, I have not forgotten the trust and 1 
bring it back without a blot and not a single promise to redeem.' 1 
think I have a right to feel proud of that (cheers and applause) because 
in the succession of the administration from Lincoln's time to the pres- 
ent era no man ever enjoyed that privilege before. (Tremendous ap- 
plause. ) 

"Then began the battle royal. The Chicago convention fiung forth 
an edict which shackled the nation and almost prostrated the country. 
Following that came that grand wave of inspiration from McKinley. 
His name and all he stood for was the battle cry from that time on. 
Never before was such a battle waged. It was against an unknown, 
unseen enemy, which faced us under cover on every side, but before 
us was McKinley's name, and every eye was fixed on it, and every 
heart was bound to it as to a guiding star. (Tremendous applause.) 

"There were dark days. There were days when e\en the best men 
in the country lost faith in its government. And why? Because, as 
I said, the enemy was an unseen one, and the blows it was striking 
were blows at the very foundations of this government. And they did 
not know the inner workings of our part of the campaign. When T 
left New York to come to Cleveland to vote for my friend \\'illiam 
AIcKinley (applause and cheers), I looked out of the car window in 
the early dawn and I saw the sun rise, and that sentiment of Garfield's 
(applause and cheers) came to me, 'God reigns' (tremendous cheer- 
ing), and on the following dav 1 was reminded of that sentiment of 
friend Handy here, that a rainbow spanned the continent. I cast un- 
vote, and then I hied me again to Canton and I said to its foremost 
citizen : 'Governor, that honor and that escutcheon which you con- 
fided to me are still untarnished. You haven't a promise to redeem." 
(Cheers for several moments.") 



Our Martyred President 151 

"And now I rejoice with you all that the great campaign has ended 
in glory and in peace. I can't explain to you what impelled me to 
enter on this labor, leaving all my other interests here at home, except 
to say that it was my love for this great man. I had been with him 
in the conventions of '84, '88 and '92, and I knew of their trials and 
their temptations, and it was then that I learned to know the heart 
and character of William McKinley. (Applause.) It was then that 
he brushed aside all except the future and said : 'I will not stultify / 
my character for any reward on earth !' " 



CHAPTER XII. 

President of the United States. 

William McKinley was inaugurated president of the United States 
March 4, 1897. His inaugural address, like all of his previous public 
utterances, was dignified, clear and exhaustive. He pointed out the 
wants of the country, and pledged himself to meet them as far as pos- 
sible. His cabinet was composed of the following eminent men : 
Secretary of State— Hon. John Sherman, of Ohio. 
Secretary of the Treasury— Hon. Lyman J. Gage, of Illinois 
Secretary of War— Hon. Russell A. Alger, of Michigan 
Secretary of the Interior— Hon. Cornelius N. Bliss ""of New York 
Secretary of the Navy— Hon. John D. Long, of Massachusetts 
Postmaster General— Hon. James A. Gary, of Maryland. 
Attorney General— Hon. Joseph McKenna. of California. 

Secretary Sherman resigned in 1897, on account of ill-health and 
Judge W ilham R. Day, of Ohio, an old friend of the president's' was 
appointed to succeed him. Judge Day subsequently resigned to become 
nead of the peace commission appointed to arrange for the termination 
of the Spanish-American war. and Hon. John Hay, formerly minis- 
ter to England, succeeded him. Judge McKenna, attorney general 
also resigned in 1897, and Hon. John W. Griggs was appointed his 
successor. In 1898 Postmaster General Gary resigned and Hon. Charles 
Lmory Smith, of Pennsylvania, became his successor. Russell A. Alger 
secretary of war. tendered his resignation in 1899 and Hon EHhu 
Root, of New York, succeeded him. 

^ More American history was made during President McKinley 's 
first term of office than in any preceding administration since the day 
the martyred Lincoln ceased his work. 

In the light of the present, to undertake to pronounce upon the 
permanent character of all tlie acts of the administration would be to 
assume superior wisdom. But if the voice of the people is to be relied 
upon as the voice of God. then, assuredly President McKinley was 
wise beyond ordinary men. for the people promptly and deci'sivelv 
when the time came, sanctioned his acts. The Spanish war and iis 
results was the main feature of his first year's work. It o-rew out 



152 



Our Martyred President 153 

of the oppression of the people of Ciil)a by Spain. The Cubans had 
been for years in arms against the Spaniards, and the people were worn 
out with the struggle. Constantly they appealed to the people of the 
United States to aid them in their struggle, and the people — not the 
government — responded. Spain took offense at this and urged the gov- 
ernment of the United States to prevent munitions of war and other 
supplies being supplied to the Cubans. The Spaniards were absolute!} 
unable to crush the independent spirit of the Cubans. Finally, in 1897. 
when the island was a scene of awful desolation, the sufferings of Amer- 
ican citizens in Cuba became so great that congress at a special ses- 
sion, appropriated $50,000 for their relief. Here was further cause for 
complaint on the part of Spain. War grew out of the situation, but 
as the matter will be fully treated of elsewhere it will not be further 
alluded to here. The passage of the "sound money" law, placing the 
country on a gold basis and in line with the other leading nations of 
the earth, was accomplished and many other things, which may be 
best told briefly in the words of Senator Hanna in his Union Club 
speech, in which he said : 

"President McKinley's administration brought about a more prompt 
readjustment of the tariff, to accord with the views of the party which 
elected him to office, than any preceding administration, and in this 
case it was accomplished under peculiarly embarrassing and difficult 
conditions, by reason of the well known fact that his own party did 
not have a clear majority in one branch of congress — the senate. Presi- 
dent McKinley was inaugurated on March 4, 1897, and immediately 
called congress to meet in special session on March 15. In his mes- 
sage to that congress he called attention to the excessive importations 
and the lack of revenues, and said : 'Congress sliould promptly cor- 
rect the existing conditions. Ample revenues must be supplied, not 
only for the ordinary expenses of the government, but for the prompt 
payment of liberal pensions and the liquidation of the principal and 
interest of the ]mblic debt. In raising revenues, duties should be lexied 
upon foreign products so as to preserve the home market so far as 
possible to our own producers; to revive and increase manufactures: 
to relieve and encourage agriculture; to increase our domestic and for- 
eign commerce; to aid and develop mining and building, and to ren- 
der to labor in every field the useful occupation, the liberal wages and 
the adequate rewards to which skill and industry are justly entitled. 
The necessity of a tariff law which shall provide ample revenue need 
not be further urged. The imperative demand of the hour is the prompt 
enactment of such a measure, and to this object T earnestly recommend 
that cono-rcss shall make everv endeavor.' 



154 Life of William McKinley 

"This recommendation was promptly complied with. Congress met 
on March 15, and on that day a tariff bill was introduced in the house; 
on March 19 it was reported from the committee on ways and means: 
the debate began on March 22, and on March 31 the bill passed the 
republican house and was sent to the senate, which, after making some 
amendments, passed the measure on July 7. 

"The bill was then sent to the conference committee and became 
a law on July 24, 143 days from the date of President McKinley' s 
inauguration. This was less time than was occupied in the enactment 
of any tariff legislation since the days of 'Washington, whose first tariff 
measure consumed about two months, being, of course, very brief. 
Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J. O. Adams, Jackson, William 
H. Harrison. Polk. Pierce. Buchanan. Lincoln. Grant, Arthur, Ben- 
jamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland all signed tariff bills, but none 
c>i them became laws in so short a time as did the Dingley law. Cleve- 
land's second term, with his own party in control of both branches of 
congress, did not witness the completion of its tariff measure until 
nearly eighteen months after his inauguration. 

"Regarding the war with Spain and its results, the facts are so 
well known as to need little discussion in detail. No war of such results 
was ever waged with so little loss of life. In the campaign w4iich re- 
sulted in the rescue of Cuba from her oppressors and in the addition of 
Porto Rico to the territory of the United States, fewer lives were lost 
upon the battlefield than were lost in the United States during the 
peaceful celebration of the Fourth of Jul)^, 1899. 

"In like manner the financial record of the administration may 
be best described by a (juotation from the president's special message 
to congress on July 24. 1 897 : 

" 'iSJothing Avas settled more clearly at the late national election 
than the determination upon the part of the people to keep their cur- 
rency stable in value and equal to that of the most advanced nations 
of the world. 

" 'The soundness of our currency is nowhere questioned. No loss 
can occur to its holders. It is the system which should be simplified 
and strengthened, keeping our money just as good as it is now with 
less expense to the government and the people. 

" 'The sentiment of the country is strongly in favor of early action 
by congress in this direction, to revise our currency laws and remove 
them from partisan contention. A notable assembly of business men 
with delegates from twenty-nine states and territories was held at Indi- 
anapolis in January of this year. The financial situation commanded 
their earnest attentio.n and. after a two-day session, the convention 
recommend to congress the appointment of a monetary commission. 



Our Martyred President 155 

"I commend this report to the consideration of congress. The 
authors of the report recommend a commission 'to make a thorough 
investigation of the monetary affairs and needs of this country in all 
relations and aspects, and to make proper suggestions as to any evils 
found to exist and the remedies therefor. 

'* 'This subject should receive the attention of congress at its spe- 
cial session. It ought not to be postponed until the regular session. 

" T, therefore, urgently recommend that a special commission be 
created, non-partisan in its character, to be composed of well informed 
citizens of different parties, who will command the confidence of con- 
gress and the country because of their special fitness for the work, 
whose duty it shall be to make recommendations of whatever changes in 
our present banking and currency laws may be found necessary and expe- 
dient, and to report their conclusions on or before the first day of Novem- 
ber next, in order that the same may be transmitted by me to congress for 
its consideration at its first regular session.' 

"This committee was appointed, worked during the summer recess 
nnd the result of its deliberations was the present law. 

"To summarize, the results of the first McKinley administration were ; 

"The Dingley tariff. 

"The sound money law. 

"The war with Spain! 

"The annexation of Porto Rico, the Philippines and Guam. 

"The annexation of Hawaii. 

"The annexation of Tutuila. 

"The organization of Cuba." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The President's Own Story of the Spanish War. 

Xo more admirable presentation of all of the incidents leading up 
to the Spanish war, or of the results of that event, has Ijeen made than 
that of President McKinley himself, in his second annual message to 
congress. In that document he said : 

"Military service under a common flag and for a righteous cause has 
strengthened the national spirit and served to cement more closely than 
ever the fraternal bonds between every section of the country. 

"In my annual message very full consideration was given to the 
fiuestion of the duty of the government of the United States toward 
Spain and the Cuban insurrection as being by far the most important 
problem with which we were then called upon to deal. The considera- 
tions then ad\'anced, and the exposition of the views then expressed, 
disclosed my sense of the extreme gravity of the situation. 

SPAIN GIVEN TIME TO SETTLE TROUBLE. 

"Setting aside, as logically unfounded or practically inadmissible, 
the recognition of the Cuban insurgents as belligerents, the recognition 
of the independence of Cuba, neutral intervention to end the war by 
imposing a rational compromise between the contestants, intervention 
in favor of one or the other party, and forcible annexation of the islands. 
I concluded it was honestly due to our friendly relations with Spain 
that she shcnild be given a reasonable chance to realize her expecta- 
tions of reform, to which she had become irrevocably committed. \\'ith- 
in a few weeks previously she had announced comj^rehensive plans, 
which it was confidently asserted would be efiicacious to remedy the 
evils so deeply affecting our own country, so injurious to the true 
interests of the mother country as well as to those of Cuba, and sn 
repugnant to the universal sentiment of humanity. 

"The ensuing month brought little sign of real progress toward 
the pacification of Cuba. The autonomous administration set up in the 
capital and some of the ])rincipal cities appeared not to gain the favor 
of the inhabitants nor to be able to extend tb.eir influence to the large 
extent of territory held by the insurgents, while the military arm, ob\i- 
nusly unable to cope with the still active rebellion, continued manv of the 




JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD 
Assassinated in 1 88 1 



Our Martyred President 157 

most objectionable and offensive policies of the government that had 
preceded it. 

"No tangible relief was afforded the vast numbers of unhappy 
reconcentrados, despite the reiterated professions made in that regard 
and the amount appropriated by Spain to that end. The proffered 
expedient of zones of cultivation proved illusory. Indeed, no less prac- 
tical nor more delusive promises of succor could well have been ten- 
dered to the exhausted and destitute people, stripped of all that made 
life and home dear and herded in a strange region among unsympa- 
thetic strangers hardly less necessitous than themselves. 

"By the end of December the mortality among them had friglitfully 
increased. Conservative estimates from Spanish sources placed the 
deaths among these distressed people at over 40 per cent from the time 
General Weyler's decree of reconcentration was enforced. With the 
acquiescence of the Spanish authorities a scheme was adopted for relief 
by charitable contributions raised in this country and distributed, under 
the direction of the consul general and the several consuls, by noble 
and earnest individual effort through the organized agencies of the 
American Red Cross. Thousands of lives were thus saved, 1)ut nianv 
thousands more were inaccessible to such forms of aid. 

'The war continued on the old footing, without comprehensive plan, 
developing only the same spasmodic encounters, barren of strategic re- 
sult, that had marked the course of the earlier Ten Years' rebellion as 
well as the present insurrection from its start. No alternative save 
physical exhaustion of either coml^atant, and therewithal the practical 
ruin of the island, lay in sight, but how far distant no one could 
venture to conjecture. 

DESTRUCTIOX OF THE .M.VINE. 

"At this juncture, on the 15th of February last, occurred the destruc- 
tion of the battleship Maine, while rightfully lying in the harbor of 
Havana on a mission of international courtesy and good will — a catas- 
trophe the suspicious nature and horror of which stirred the nation's 
heart profoundly. 

'Tt is a striking evidence of the poise and sturdy good sense distin- 
guishing our national character that this shocking blow, falling upon a 
generous people, already deeply touched by preceding events in Cuba, 
did not move them to an instant, desperate resolve to tolerate no longer 
the existence of a condition of danger and disorder at our doors that 
made possible such a deed by whomsoever wrought. Yet the instinct 
of justice prevailed and the nation anxiously awaited the result of the 
searching investigation at once set on foot. 



158 Lile oi William McKinley 

"The tincling of the naval board of inquiry estabHshed that the origin 
of the explosion was external by a submarine mine, and only halted 
through lack of positive testimony to fix the responsibility of its author 
ship. 

"All these things carried conviction to the most thoughtful, even 
before the finding of the naval court, that a crisis in our relations with 
Spain and toward Cuba was at hand. So strong was this belief that 
it needed but a brief executive suggestion to the congress to recei\e 
immediate answer to the duty of making instant pruvisioil for the pos- 
sible and perhaps speedy probable emergency of war, and the remark- 
able, almost unique, spectacle was presented of a unanimous vote of 
both houses on the 9th of March, appropriating $50,000,000 for the 
national defense and for each and every purpose connected therewith, 
to be expended at the direction of the president. 

"That this act of provision came none too soon was disclosed when 
the application of the fund was undertaken. Our forts were practi- 
cally undefended.- Our navy needed large provision for increased 
ammunition and supplies and even numbers to cope with any sudden 
attack from the navy of Spain, which comprised vessels of the highest 
type of continental perfection. Our army also recpiired enlargement of 
men and munitions. 

'The details (/f the hurried preparation for the dreaded contingency 
are told in the reports of the secretaries of war and of the navy, and 
need not be repeated here. It is sufiicint to say that the outbreak of 
the war, when it did come, found our nation not unprepared to meet 
the conflict. 

"Nor was the apprehension of coming strife confined to our own 
country. It was felt by the continental powers, which, on April 6, 
through their ambassadors and envoys, addressed to the executive an 
expression of hope that humanity and moderation might mark the 
course of this government and people, and that further negotiations 
would lead to an agreement which, while securing the maintenance of 
peace, would affirm all necessary guarantees for the re-establishment 
of order in Cuba. 

"In responding to that representation I also shared the hope that 
the envoys had expressed that peace might be preserved in a manner 
to terminate the chronic condition of disturbance in Cuba so injurious 
and menacing to our interests and tranquillity, as well as shocking to 
our sentiments of humanity; and, while appreciating the humanitarian 
and disinterested character of the communication they had made on 
behalf of the powers, I stated the confidence of this government, for 
its part, that equal appreciation would be shown for its own earnest 



Our Martyred President 159 

and unselfish endeavors to fulfill a duty to humanity by ending a situ- 
ation the indefinite prolongation of which had become insufferable. 

EFFORTS TO AVERT WAR PROVE VAIX. 

"Still animated by the hope of a peaceful solution and obeying the 
dictates of duty, no effort was relaxed to bring about a speedy ending 
of the Cuban struggle. Negotiations to this object continued actively 
with the government of Spain, looking to the immediate conclusion 
uf a six months" armistice in Cuba with a view to effecting the recog- 
nition of her people's rights to independence. Besides this, the instant 
revocation of the order of reconcentration was asked, so that the suf- 
ferers, returning to their homes and aided by united American and 
Spanish effort, might be put in a way to support themselves and, by 
orderly resumption of the well nigh destroyed productive energies 
of the island, contribute to the restoration of its tranquility and well 
being. 

'Negotiations continued for some little time at Madrid, resulting m 
offers by the Spanish government which could nut but be regarded as 
inadequate. It was proposed to confide the preparation of peace to 
t!ie insular parliament, yet to be convened under the autonomous decrees 
uf November, 1897, but without impairment in any wise to the consti- 
Lutional powers of the Madrid government, which, to that end, would 
grant an armistice, if solicited by the insurgents, for such time as the 
general-in-chief might see fit to fix. 

"How and with what scope of discretionary powers the insular 
])arliament was expected to set about the 'preparation' of peace did not 
appear. If it were to be by negotiation with the insurgents, the issue 
seemed to rest on the one side with a body chosen by a fraction of 
the electors in the districts under Spanish control and on the other 
with the insurgent population holding the interior country, unrepre- 
sented in the so-called parliament, and defiant at the suggestion of 
suing for peace. 

"Grieved and disappointed at this barren outcome of my sincere 
endeavors to reach a practicable solution, I felt it my duty to remit 
the whole question to the congress. In the message of April i, 1898. 
1 announced that with this last overture in the direction of immediate 
peace in Cuba, and its disappointing reception by Spain, the effort of 
the executive was brought to an end. 

"I again reviewed the alternative course of action which I had 
proposed, concluding that the only one consonant with international pol- 
icy and compatible with our firm-set historical traditions was interven- 
tion as a neutral to stop the war and check the hopeless sacrifice of 



i6o Life of William McRinley 

life, even though that resort involved 'hostile constraint upon both the 
parties to the contest, as well to enforce a truce as to guide the eventual 
settlement.' 

"The grounds justifying that step were: The interests of human- 
ity, the duty to protect life and property of our citizens in Cuba, the 
right to check injury to our commerce and people through the devas- 
tation of the island, and, most important, the need of removing at, once 
and forever the constant menace and the burden entailed upon our gov- 
ernment by the uncertainties and perils of the situation caused by the 
unendurable disturbance in Cuba. 1 said : 

" 'Tlie long trial has proved that the object for which Spain has 
waged the war cannot be attained. The fire of insurrection may flame 
or may smoulder with varying seasons, but it has not been, and it 
is plain that it cannot be. extinguished by present methods. The only 
hope of relief and repose from a condition which can no longer be 
endured is the enforced pacification of Cuba. In the name of human- 
ity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of endangered American in- 
terests, which give us the right and the duty to speak, the existing 
war in Cuba must stoj:).' 

"In view of all this the congress was asked to authorize and em- 
power the president to take measures to secure a full and final termin- 
ation of hostilities between Spain and the people of Cuba and to secure 
in the island the establishment of a stable government, capable of main- 
taining order and observing its international obligations, insuring peace 
and tranquility, and the security of its citizens as well as our own. 
and the accomplishment of those ends to use the military and naval 
forces of the United States as might be necessary, with added author- 
ity to continue generous relief to the starving people of Cuba. 

CONGRESS TAKES DECISIVE ACTION. 

"The response of the congress, after nine days of earnest delibera- 
tion, during which the almost unanimous sentiment of that body was 
developed on every point save as to the expediency of coupling the pro- 
posed action with a formal recognition of the republic of Cuba as the 
true and lawful government of that island — a proposition which failed 
of adoption — the congress, after conference, on the 19th of April, by 
a vote of 42 to 35 in the senate and 311 to 6 in the house of repre- 
sentatives, passed the memorable joint resolution, declaring: 

"' 'i. That the people of the Island of Cuba are, and of right ought 
to be. free and independent. 

" '2. That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and the 
government of the United States does hereby demand, that the gov- 



Our Martyred President i6i 

ernment of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government in 
the Island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba 
and Cuban waters. 

*' '3. That the president of the United States be and he hereby is 
directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the 
United States, and to call into th? actual service of the United States 
the militia of the several states to such extent as may be necessary, 
to carry these resolutions into effect. 

" '4. That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or 
intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or control over said island, 
except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when 
that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the island 
to its people.' 

"This resolution was approved by the executive on the next day, 
April 20. A copy was at once communicated to the Spanish minister 
at this capital, who forthwith announced that his continuance in Wash- 
ington had thereby become impossible, and asked for his passports, 
which were given him. He thereupon withdrew from Washington, 
leaving the protection of Spanish interests in the United States to the 
French ambassador and the Austro-Hungarian minister. 

"Simultaneously with its communication to the Spanish minister, 
General Woodford, the American minister at Madrid, w-as telegraphed 
confirmation of the text of the joint resolution, and directed to com- 
municate it to the government of Spain, with the formal demand that 
it at once relinc|uish| its authority and government in the Island of 
Cuba, and withdraw its forces therefrom, coupling this demand with 
announcements of the intentions of this government as to the future 
of the island, in conformity with the fourth clause of the resolution, 
and giving Spain until noon of April 23d to reply. 

"The demand, although, as above shown, officially made known to 
the Spanish envoy here, was not delivered at ^Madrid. After the instruc- 
tions reached General Woodford on the morning of April 21st, but 
before he could present it, the Spanish Minister of State notified him 
that upon the president's approval of the joint resolution the IMadrid 
government, regarding the act as "equivalent to an evident declaration 
of war," had ordered its minister in Washington to withdraw, thereby 
breaking off diplomatic relations between the two countries, and ceasing 
all official communication between the respective representatives. 
General Woodford thereupon demanded his passports and quitted Ma- 
drid the same day. 

FORMAL DECLARATION OF W^\R. 

Spain having thus denied the demand of the United States and 

1 



i62 Life of William McKinley 

initiated that complete form of rupture of relations which attends a state 
of war, the executive powers authorized by the resolution were at once 
used by me to meet the enlarged contingency of actual war between 
Spain and the United States. 

On April 22d I proclaimed a blockade of the northern coast of Cuba, 
including ports on said coast between Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and 
the port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba, and on the 23d I 
called for volunteers to execute the purpose of the resolution. 

By my message of April 25th the congress was informed of the situ- 
ation, and I recommended formal declaration of the existence of a 
state of war between the United States and Spain. The Congress 
accordingly voted on the same day the act approved April 25. 189S, 
declaring the existence of such war, from and including the 21st day 
of April, and re-enacted the provisions of the resolution of April 20th, 
directing the President to use all the armed forces of the nation to carry 
that act into effect. 

Due notification of the existence of war as aforesaid was given 
April 25th by telegraph to all the governments with which the United 
States maintain relations, in order that their neutrality might be assured 
during the war. 

The various governments responded with proclamations of neutral- 
ity, each after its own methods. It is not among the least gratifying 
incidents of the struggle that the obligations of neutrality were impar- 
tially discharged by all, often under delicate and difficult circumstances. 

In further fulfillment of international duty, I issued, April 26th, a 
proclamation announcing the treatment proposed to be accorded to ves- 
sels and their cargoes as to blockades, contraband, the exercise of the 
rights of subjects and the immunity of neutral flags and neutral goods 
under the enemy's flag. A similar proclamation w^as made by the Span- 
ish government. In the conduct of hostilities the rules of the declara- 
tion of Paris, including abstention from resort to privateering., have 
accordingly been observed by both belligerents, although neither was a 
party to that declaration. 

RECRUITING ARMY AND NAVY. 

Our country thus, after an interval of half a century of peace with 
all nations, found itself engaged in deadly conflict with a foreign enemy. 
Every nerve was strained to meet the emergency. 

The response to the initial call for 125,000 volunteers was instant 
and complete, as was also the result of the second call of May 25th for 
75,000 additional volunteers. The ranks of the regular army were 
increased to the limits provided by the act of April 26th. 



Our Martyred President 163 

The enlisted force of the navy on the 15th of August, when it 
reached its maximum, numbered 24,123 men and apprentices. One 
hundred and three vessels were added to the navy by purchase, one was 
presented to the government, one leased and the four vessels of the 
International Navigation Company — the St. Paul, St. Louis, New York 
and Paris — were chartered. In addition to these the revenue cutters 
and lighthouse tenders were turned over to the navy department and 
became temporarily a part of the auxiliary navy. 

The maximum eeffctive fighting force of the navy during the war, 
separated into classes, was as follows : 

Regular — Four battleships of the first class, one battleship of the 
second class, two armored cruisers, six coast defense monitors, one 
armored ram, twelve protected cruisers, three unprotected cruisers, 
eighteen gunboats, one dynamite cruiser, eleven torpedo boats, fourteen 
old vessels of the old navy, including monitors. 

Auxiliary Navy — Sixteen auxiliary cruisers, twenty-eight converted 
yachts, twenty-seven converted tugs, nineteen converted colliers, fifteen 
revenue cutters, four lighthouse tenders and nineteen miscellaneous 
vessels. 

Much alarm was felt along our entire Atlantic seaboard lest some 
attack might be made 1)y the enemy. Every precaution was taken to 
prevent possible injury to our great cities lying along the coast. Tem- 
porary garrisons were provided, drawn from the state militia. Infantry 
and light batteries were drawn from the volunteer force. About 12,000 
troops were thus employed. The coast signal service was established 
for observing the approach of an enemy's ships to the coast of the United 
States, and the life-saving and lighthouse services co-operated, which 
enabled the navy department to have all portions of the Atlantic coast, 
from Alaine to Texas, under observation. 

The auxiliary navy was created under the authority of Congress and 
was officered and manned by the naval militia of the several states. This 
organization patrolled the coast and performed the duty of a second 
arm of defense. 

Under the direction of the chief of engineers submarine mines were 
placed at the most exposed points. Before the outbreak of the war per- 
manent mining casements and cable galleries had been constructed at 
all important harbors. Most of the torpedo material was not to be 
found in the market and had to be specially manufactured. Under date 
of April 19th district officers were directed to take all preliminary meas- 
ures, short of the actual attaching of the loaded mines to the cables, and 
on April 22d telegraphic orders were issued to place the loaded mines in 
position. 



164 Life of William McKinley 

The aggregate number of mines placed was 1,535 ^t the principal 
harbors from Maine to California. Preparations were also made for 
the planting of mines at certain other harbors, but owing to the early 
destruction of the Spanish tieet these mines were not placed. 

The signal corps was promptly organized and performed service of 
most difficult and important character. Its operations during the war 
covered the electrical connection of all coast fortifications and the estab- 
lishment of telephonic and telegraphic facilities for the camps at Manila, 
Santiago and in Porto Rico. 

There were constructed 300 miles of line at ten great camps, thus 
facilitating military movements from those points in a manner hereto- 
fore unknown in military administration. Field telegraph lines were 
established and maintained under the enemy's fire at Manila, and later 
the Manila-Hongkong cable was reopened. In Porto Rico cable com- 
munications were opened over a discontinued route, and on land' the 
headquarters of the commanding officer were kept in telegraphic or 
telephonic communication with the division commanders of four differ- 
ent lines of operation. 

There was placed in Cuban waters a completely outfitted cable ship, 
with war cables and cable gear suitable both for the destruction of com- 
munications belonging to the enemy and the establishment of our 
own. Two ocean cables were destroyed under the enemy's batteries at 
Santiago. The day previous to the landing of General Shafter's corps 
at Caimanera, within twenty miles of the landing place, cable com- 
munications were established and cable stations opened, giving direct 
communication with the government at Washington. This service was 
invaluable to the executive in directing the operations of the army and 
navy. 

With a total force of over 1,300 the loss was by disease and field, 
officers and men included, only five. 

NATION TAKES WAR BONDS. 

The national defense under the $50,000,000 fund was expended in 
large part by the army and navy, and the objects for which it was used 
are fully shown in the reports of the several secretaries. It was a most 
timely appropriation, enabling the government to strengthen its defense 
and making preparations greatly needed in case of war. 

This fund being inadequate to the requirements of equipment and 
for the conduct of the war, the patriotism of the congress provided the 
means in the war revenue act of June 13th, by authorizing a 3 per cent 
popular loan, not to exceed $400,000,000, and by levying additional im- 
posts and taxes. Of the authorized loan, $200,000,000 were offered 




McKINLEY AT AGE OF I6. 



Our Martyred President 165 

and promptly taken, the subscriptions so far exceeding the call as to 
cover it many times over, while, preference being given to the smaller 
bids, no single allotment exceeded $5,000. 

This was a most encouraging and significant result, showing the 
vast resources of the nation and the determination of the people to 
uphold their country's honor. 

devs^ey's great victory. 

The first encounter of the war in point of date took place April 27th, 
when a detachment of the blockading squadron made a reconnaissance 
in force at Matanzas, shelled the harbor forts and demolished several 
new works in course of construction. 

The next engagement was destined to mark a memorable epoch 
in maritime warfare. The Pacific fleet, under Commodore Dev.-ey, had 
lain for some weeks at Hongkong. Upon the colonial proclamation of 
neutrality being issued and the customary twenty-four hours' notice 
being given, it repaired to ^Mirs Bay, near Hongkong, whence it pro- 
ceeded to the Philippine Islands under telegraphic orders to capture or 
destroy the formidable Spanish fleet then assembled at Manila. 

At daybreak on the ist of ^May the American force entered Manila 
Bay, and after a few hours' engagement effected the total destruction of 
the Spanish fleet, consisting of ten warships and a transport, besides 
capturing the naval station and forts at Cavite, thus annihilating the 
Spanish naval power in the Pacific ocean and completely controlling the 
Bay of Manila, with the ability to take the city at will. Not a life was 
lost on our ships, the wounded only numl)ering seven, while not a vessel 
was materially injured. 

For this gallant achievement the congress, upon my recommenda- 
tion, fitly bestowed upon the actors preferment and substantial reward. 

The eft'ect of this remarkable victory upon the spirit of our people 
and upon the fortunes of the war was instant. A prestige of invincibil- 
ity thereby attached to our arms, which continued throughout the 
struggle. Re-enforcements were hurried to Manila under the command 
of IMajor-General Merritt and firmly established within sight of the 
capital, which lay helpless before our guns. 

On the 7th day of May the government was advised officially of the 
victory at Manila, and at once inquired of the commander of our fleet 
what troops would be required. The information was received on the 
15th day of May, and the first army expedition sailed May 25th and 
arrived off Manila June 30. Other expeditions soon followed, the 
total force consisting of 641 officers and 15,058 men. 

Only reluctance to cause needless loss of life and property prevented 



1 66 Life of William McKinley 

tlie eariy storming and capture of the city, and therewith the absolute 
mihtary occupancy of the whole group. The insurgents meanwhile had 
resumed the active hostilities suspended by the uncompleted truce of 
December, 1897. Tlieir forces invested Manila from the northern and 
eastern side, but were constrained by Admiral Dewey and General Mer- 
ritt from attempting an assault. 

It was fitting that whatever was to be done in the way of decisive 
operations in that quarter should be accomplished by the strong arm 
of the United States alone. Obeying the stern precept of war, which 
enjoins the overcoming of the adversary and the extinction of his power 
wherever assailable as the speedy and sure means to win a peace, divided 
victory was not permissible, for no partition of the rights and responsi- 
bilities attending the enforcement of a just and advantageous peace 
could be thought of. 

CAMPAIGN IN CUBA REVIEWED. 

Following the comprehensive scheme of general attack, powerful 
forces were assembled at various points on our coast to invade Cuba and 
Porto Rico. Meanwhile naval demonstrations were made at several 
exposed points. On May nth the cruiser Wilmington and torpedo boat 
;Winslow were unsuccessful in an attempt to silence the batteries at 
Cardenas, against IMatanzas, Worth Bagiey and four seamen falling. 

These grievous fatalities were, strangely enough, among the very 
few which occurred during our naval operation.s in this extraordinary 
conflict. 

Meanwhile the Spanish naval preparations h.ad been pushed with 
great vigor. A powerful squadron under Admiral Cervera, which had 
assembled at the Cape Verde Islands before the outbreak of hostilities, 
had crossed the ocean, and by its erratic movements in the Caribbean 
Sea delayed our military operations while baffling the pursuit of our 
fleets. For a time fears were felt lest the Oregon and Marietta, then 
nearing home after their long voyage from San Francisco of over 15,000 
miles, might be surprised by Admiral Cervera's fleet, but their fortunate 
arrival dispelled these apprehensions and lent much needed re-enforce- 
ment. 

Not until Admiral Cervera took refuge in the Harbor of Santiago de 
Cuba about A^Iay 9th was it practicable to plan a systematic military 
attack upon the Antillean possessions of Spain. Several demonstrations 
occurred on the coasts of Cuba and Porto Rico in preparation for the 
larger event. On May 13th the North Atlantic squadron shelled San 
Juan de Porto Rico. On May 30th Commodore Schley's squadron 
bombarded the forts guarding the mouth of Santiago Harbor. Neither 



Our Martyred President 167 

attack had any material result. It was evident that well-ordered land 
operations were indispensable to achieve a decisive advantage. 

The next act in the war thrilled not alone the hearts 01 our country- 
men but the world by its exceptional heroism. 

SINKING OF THE MERRIMAC. 

On the night of June 3d Lieutenant Hobson, aided by seven devoted 
volunteers, blocked the narrow outlet from Santiago Harbor by sinking 
the collier iMerrimac in the channel, under a fierce fire trom the shore 
batteries, escaping with their lives as by a miracle, but falling into the 
hands of the Spaniards. 

It is a most gratifying incident of the war that the bravery of this 
little band of heroes wasxordially appreciated by the Spamards, who 
sent a flag of truce to notify Admiral Sampson of their satety and to 
compliment them upon their daring act. They were subsequently 

exchanged July 7th. , , . , , ., • 1 1 

Bv June 7th the cutting of the last Cuban cable isolated the island. 
Thereafter the invasion was vigorously prosecuted. On June loth, 
under a heavy protecting fire, a landing of 600 marines from the Oregon 
!\larblehead and Yankee was efilected in Guantanamo Bay, where it had 
been determined to establish a naval station. This important and essen- 
tial port was taken from the enemy after severe fighting by the marines, 
who were the first organized force of the United States to land in 
Cuba. The position so won was held despite desperate attempts to 

dislodge our forces. 

By June i6th additional forces were landed and strongly intrenched. 
On June 22d the advance of the invading army under ^lajor-General 
Shafter landed at Baiquiri, about fifteen miles east of Santiago. This 
was accomplished under great difficulties, but with marvelous dispatch. 
On June 23d the movement against Santiago was begun. 

On the 24th the first serious engagement took place, in which the 
First and Tenth Cavalry and the First United States Volunteer Cavalry, 
General Young's brigade of General Wheeler's division, participated, 
losing heavily." By nightfall, however, ground within five miles of San- 
tiago was won. 

The advantage was steadily increased. On July ist a severe battle 
took place, our forces gaining the outworks of Santiago. On the^ 2d El 
Caney and San Juan w^ere taken after a desperate charge, and the invest- 
ment of the city was completed. The navy co-operated by shelling the 
towm and coast forts. 

DESTRUCTION OF CERVERA's FLEET. 

On the day following this brilliant achievement of our land forces, 



i68 Life of William McKinley 

July 3d, occurred the decisive naval combat of the war. The Spanish 
fleet, attempting to leave the harbor, was met by the American squadron 
under command of Commodore Schley. In less than three hours all 
the Spanish ships were destroyed, the two torpedo boats being- sunk, 
and the Maria Teresa, Almirante Oquendo, Vizcaya and Cristobol Colon 
driven ashore. The Spanish admiral and over 1,300 men were taken 
prisoners, while the enemy's loss of life was deplorably large, some 600 
perishing. 

On our side but one man was killed, on the Brooklyn, aneFone man 
seriously wounded. Although our ships were repeatedly struck, not 
one was seriously injured. 

Where all so conspicuously distinguished themselves, from the com- 
manders to the gunners and the unnamed heroes in the boiler-rooms, 
each and all contributing toward the achievement of this astounding 
victory, for which neither ancient nor modern history affords a parallel 
in the completeness of the event and the marvelous disproportion of 
casualties, it would be invidious to single out any for especial honor. 

Deserved promotion has rewarded the more conspicuous actors — 
the nation's profoundest gratitude is due to all of those brave men who 
1)y their skill and devotion in a few short hours crushed the sea power 
of Spain and wrought a triumph whose decisiveness and far-reaching 
consequences can scarcely be measured. Nor can we be unmindful of 
the achievements of our builders, mechanics and artisans for their skill 
in the construction of our warships. 

With the catastrophe of Santiago Spain's effort upon the ocean 
\-irtually ceased. A spasmodic effort toward the end of June to send her 
Mediterranean fleet under Admiral Camara to relieve IManila was aban- 
doned, the expedition being recalled after it had passed through the Suez 
Canal. 

The capitulation of Santiago followed. The city was closely be- 
seiged by land, while the entrance of our ships into the harbor cut off all 
relief on that side. After a truce to allow of the removal of non-combat- 
ants protracted negotiations continued from July 3d to July 15th, when, 
under menace of immediate assault, the preliminaries of surrender were 
agreed upon. On the 17th General Shafter occupied the city. 

The capitulation embraced the entire eastern end of Cuba. The 
number of Spanish soldiers surrendered was 22,000, all of whom were 
subsequently conveyed to Spain at the charge of the United States. 

The story of this successful campaign is told in the report of the 
secretary of war, which will be laid before you. The individual valor 
of officers and soldiers was never more strikingly shown than in the 
several engagements leading to the surrender of Santiago, while the 



Our Martyred President 169 

prompt movements and successive victories won instant and universal 
applause. 

To those who gained this complete triumph, which estahlished the 
ascendancy of the United States upon land as the fight off Santiago had 
fixed our supremacy on the seas, the earnest and lasting gratitude of the 
nation is unsparingly due. 

Nor should we alone remember the gallantry of the living; the dead 
claim our tears, and our losses by battle and disease must cloud any 
exultation at the result and teach us to weigh the awful cost of war, 
however rightful the cause or signal the victory. 

OCCUPATION OF PORTO RICO. 

With the fall of Santiago, the occupation of Porto Rico became the 
next strategic necessity. General Miles had previously been assigned to 
organize an expedition for that purpose. Fortunately he was already at 
Santiago, where he had arrived on the nth of July, with re-enforce- 
ments for General Sliafter's army. 

With these troops, consisting of 3.415 infantry and artillery, two 
companies of engineers, and one company of the signal corps, General 
Miles left Guantanamo on July 2ist, having nine transports convoyed 
by the fleet under Captain Higginson, with the Alassachusetts (flag- 
ship), Dixie, Gloucester, Columbia and Yale, the two latter carrying 
troops. The expedition landed at Guanica July 25th, which port was 
entered with little opposition. Here the fleet was joined by the Annap- 
olis and the Wasp, while the Puritan and Amphitrite went to San Juan 
and joined the New Orleans, which was engaged in blockading that 
port. 

The major-general commanding was subsequently re-enforced by 
General Schwann's brigade of the Third Army Corps, by General Wil- 
son, with a part of his division, and also by General Brooke, with a 
part of his corps, numbering in all 16,973 officers and men. On July 27 
he entered Ponce, one of the most important ports in the island, from 
which he thereafter directed operations for the capture of the island. 

With the exception of encounters with the enemy at Guayama, 
Hormigueres, Coamo and Yauco, and an attack on a force landing at 
Cape San Juan, there was no serious resistance. The campaign was 
prosecuted with great vigor, and l)y the 12th of August much of the 
island was in our possession, and the ac(juisition of the remainder was 
only a matter of a short time. 

At most of the points in the island our troops were enthusiastically 
welcomed. Protestations of loyalty to the flag and gratitude for deliv- 
ery from Spanish rule met our commanders at every stage. 



170 Life of William McKinley 

As a potent influence toward peace, the outcome of the Porto Rican 
expedition was of great consequence, and generous commendation is 
due to those who participated in it. 

LAST BATTLE OF THE WAR. 

The last scene of the w^ar v;a.s enacted at Manila, its starting place. 
On August 15th, after a brief assault upon the works by the land forces, 
in which the squadron assisted, the capital surrendered unconditionally. 
The casualties were comparatively few. 

By this the conquest of the Philippine Islands, virtually accomplished 
when the Spanish capacity for resistance was destroyed by Admiral 
Dewey's victory of the ist of May, was formally sealed. 

To General Merritt, his officers and men, for their uncomplaining 
and devoted services, for their gallantry in action, the nation is sincerely 
grateful. Their long voyage was made with singular success, and the 
soldierly conduct of the men, most of whom were without previous 
experience in the military service, deserves unmeasured praise. 

LOSSES OF ARMY AND NAVY. 

The total casualties in killed and wounded during the war were as 
follows : 

ARMY. 

Officers killed 23 

Enlisted men killed 257 

Total 280 

Officers wounded 113 

Enlisted men wounded 1464 

Total 1,577 

NAVY. 

Killed 17 

Wounded (yj 

Died as result of wounds i 

Invalided from service 6 

Total 91 

It will be observed that while our navy was engaged in two great 
battles and in numerous perilous undertakings in the blockades and bom- 
bardment, and more than fifty thousand of our troops were transported 
to distant lands and engaged in assault and siege and battle and many 



Our Martyred President 171 

skirmishes in unfamiliar territory, we lost in both arms of the service a 
total of 1,948 killed and wounded; and in the entire campaign by land 
and sea we did not lose a gun or a flag or a transport or a ship, and with 
the exception of the crew of the IMerrimac not a soldier or sailor was 
taken prisoner. 

On August 7, forty-six days from the date of the landing of General 
Shafter's army in Cuba and twenty-one days from the surrender of San- 
tiago, the United States troops commenced embarkation for home, and 
our entire force was returned to the United States as early as August 25th. 
They were absent from the United States only two months. 

It is fitting that I should bear testimony to the patriotism and devotion 
of that large portion of our army which, although eager to be ordered to 
the post of greatest exposure, fortunately was not required outside of the 
United States. They did their whole duty, and. like their comrades at 
the front, have earned the gratitude of the nation. 

In like manner, the officers and men of the army and of the navy who 
remained in their departments and stations of the navy, performing most 
important duties connected with the war, and whose requests for assign- 
ments in the field and at sea I was compelled to refuse because their serv- 
ices were indispensable here, are entitled to the highest commendation. 
It is my regret that there seems to be no provision for their suitable recog- 
nition. 

In this connection it is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of cordial 
appreciation the timely and useful work of the American National Red 
Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaign, in sanitary 
assistance at several of the camps and assemblages, and later, under the 
able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss Clara 
Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front in Cuba. 
Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and under 
their sanction and approval and with the enthusiastic co-operation of 
many patriotic women and societies in the various states, the Red Cross 
has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense earnestness 
and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its international organization, 
thus justifying the confidence and support which it has received at the 
hands of the American people. 

To the members and officers of this society and all who aided them in 
their philanthropic work, the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers 
and the public is due and is freely accorded. 

In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations 
to the Divine IMaster for His watchful care over us and His safe guidance, 
for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers humble 
prayer for the continuance of His favor. 



172 Life of William McKinley 

SIGNING OF THE PROTOCOL. 

The annihilation of Admiral Cervera's fleet, followed by the capitula- 
tion of Santiago, having brought to the Spanish government a realizing 
sense of the hopelessness of continuing a struggle now becoming wholly 
unequal, it made overtures of peace through the French ambassador, who, 
with the assent of his government, had acted as the friendly representative 
of Spanish interests during- the war. 

On the 26th of July M. Cambon presented a communication signed by 
the Duke of Almodovar, the Spanish minister of state, inviting the United 
States to state the terms upon which it would be willing to make peace. 

On July 30th, by a communication addressed to the Duke of Almo- 
dovar and handed to M. Cambon. the terms of this government were an- 
nounced, substantially as in the protocol afterward signed. 

On August loth the Spanish reply, dated August 7th, was handed by 
M. Cambon to the secretary of state. It accepted unconditionally the 
terms imposed as to Cuba, Porto Rico and an island of the Ladrones 
group, but appeared to seek to introduce inadmissible reservations in re- 
gard to our demand as to the Philippines. 

Conceiving that discussion on this point could neither be practicable 
nor profitable, it was directed that in order to avoid misunderstanding the 
matter should be forthwith' closed by proposing the embodiment in a 
formal protocol of the terms on which the negotiations for peace were 
to be undertaken. 

The vague and inexplicit suggestions of the Spanish note could not be 
accepted, the only reply being to present as a virtual ultimatum a draft 
of a protocol embodying the precise terms tendered to Spain in our note 
of July 30th, with added stipulations of detail as to the appointment of 
commissioners to arrange for the evacuation of the Spanish Antilles. 

On August 1 2th M. Cambon announced his receipt of full power to 
sign the protocol as submitted. Accordingly, on the afternoon of August 
1 2th, M. Cambon, as the plenipotentiary of Spain, and the secretary of 
state, as the plenipotentary of the United States, signed the protocol, pro- 
viding: 

"Article i. Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and 
title to Cuba. 

"Article 2. Spain will cede to the United States the Island of Porto 
Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West 
Indies, and also an island in the Ladrones to be selected by the United 
States. 

"Article 3. The United States will occupy and hold the city, bav and 
harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace, which shall 
determine the control, disposition and government of the Philippines." 




McKINLEY AT AGE OF J 8. 



Our Martyred President 173 

The fourth article provided for the appointment of joint commissions 
on the part of the United States and Spain, to meet in Havana and San 
Juan, respectively, for the purpose of arranging and carrying out the 
details of the stipulated evacuation of Cuba, Porto Rico and other Spanish 
islands in the West Indies. 

The fifth article provided for the appointment of not more than five 
commissioners on each side to meet at Paris not later than October ist 
and to proceed to the negotiation and conclusion of a treaty of peace, sub- 
ject to ratification according to the respective constitutional forms of the 
two countries. 

The sixth and last article provided that upon the signature of the pro- 
tocol, hostilities between the two countries should be suspended, and that 
notice to that effect should be given as soon as possible by each govern- 
ment to the commanders of its military and naval forces. 

CESSATION OF STRIFE. 

Immediately upon the conclusion of the protocol I issued a proclama- 
tion on August 1 2th, suspending hostilities on the part of the United 
States. The necessary orders to that end were at once given by telegraph. 
The blockade of the ports of Cuba and San Tuan de Porto Rico were in 
like manner raised. 

On August 1 8th the muster out of 100,000 volunteers, or as near that 
number as was found to be practicable, was ordered. On December ist, 
101,165 officers and men had been mustered out and discharged from the 
service ; 9,002 more will be mustered out by the loth of the month. Also 
a corresponding number of generals and general staff officers have been 
honorably dischargd from service. 

The military committees to superintend the evacuation of Cuba, Porto 
Rico and the adjacent islands were fortluvith appointed — for Cuba, Major 
General James F. Wade, Rear Admiral William T. Sampson and Major- 
General Matthew C. Butler; for Porto Rico, Major-General John C. 
Brooke, Rear Admiral Winfield S. Schley and Brigadier-General W. W. 
Gordon, who soon afterward met the Spanish commissioners at Havana 
and San Juan, respectively. 

WORK OF EVACUATION. 

The Porto Rican joint commissions speedily accomplished its task, 
and by October i8th the evacuation of the island was completed. The 
United States flag was raised over the island at noon on that day. 

As soon as we are in possession of Cuba and have pacified the island 
it will be necessary to give aid and direction to its people to form a gov- 
ernment for themselves. This should be undertaken at the earliest mo- 
ment consistent with safety and assured success. 



174 Life of William McKinley 

It is important that our relations with these people shall be of the most 
friendly character and our commercial relations close and reciprocal. It 
should be our duty to assist in every proper way to build up the waste 
places of the island, encourage the industry of the people and assist them 
to form a government which shall be free and independent, thus realizing 
the best aspirations of the Cuban people. 

Spanish rule must be replaced by a just, benevolent and humane gov- 
ernment, created by the people of Cuba, capable of performing all inter- 
national obligations, and which shall encourage thrift, industry and pros- 
perity, and promote peace and good will among all the inhabitants, what- 
ever may have been their relations in the past. Neither revenge nor pas- 
sion should have a place in the new government. 

William McKinley, 
President of the United States, 



il 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Chronological Events of the Spanish-American War. Loss 
and Cost of the War. 

APRIL_, 1898. 

April 7. Several diplomatic officials of Great Britain, Germany, 
France, Austria, Italy and Russia, met the President at the White House 
bearing a message of friendship and peace. The collective note of the 
great powers was replied to by the President in fitting terms. 

April 10. The Spanish minister presented the final plea of his gov- 
ernment for peace to Mr. Day, the assistant secretary of state. 

April II. President McKinley sent his war message to congress. 

April 19. Congress passed a joint resolution by a vote of 42 yeas 
to 35 nays in the senate, and of 319 yeas to 6 nays in the house of repre- 
sentatives, declaring war against Spain. 

April 20. The President approved the resolution. 

April 21. General Woodford, minister to Spain, received his pass- 
ports from the Spanish government. 

April 22. Blockading proclamation issued. It was also on this 
date that the first gun of the war was fired by the gunboat Nashville in 
capturing the first prize of the war, the Buena Ventura. 

April 23. The President called for 125,000 volunteers for service 
during two years. 

April 24. Spain issued a decree that war existed with the United 
States. 

April 25. W^ar formally declared by congress against Spain. 

April 27. First battle of the war was fought off Matanzas by Ad- 
miral Sampson with the New York, the Puritan and the Cincinnati. 

April 29. Cervera's fleet sailed for Cuba. 

April 30. The battleship Oregon arrived at Rio de Janeiro from 
San Francisco. 

MAY. 

May I. Admiral Dewey destroyed the entire Spanish fleet under 
Admiral Montojo in the Bay of Manila. 

May 2. Commodore Dewey cut the cable connections between Ma- 
nila and Hong Kong and took possession of the naval station at Cavite. 

175 



17^ Life of William McKinley 

May 4. The vessels of Rear Admiral Sampson's fleet sailed from 
Key West. 

May 6. The French steamer La Fayette was captured as a blockade 
runner. 

May 7. Commodore Dewey was promoted to be rear admiral and 
given the thanks of congress. 

May II. Naval encounter at Cardenas resulting in the death of 
Ensign Bagley. 

May 12. First fight on Cuban soil in attempting to land supplies. 
Part of the fleet under iVdmiral Sampson bombarded the batteries de- 
fending San Juan, Porto Rico. 

May 13. The 'Tlying Squadron" under Commodore Schley sailed 
from Hampton Roads. 

May 15. The entire Spanish cabinet resigned. 

May 16. General Merritt was assigned to the new department of 
the Pacific, including the Philippines. 

May 18. The cruiser Charleston, Captain Glass, sailed from San 
Francisco for the Philippines. 

May 19. Cervera's fleet arrived in the bay of Santiago de Cuba. 

May 21. The monitor Monterey was ordered to Manila. 

May 23. The First California regiment embarked on the Citv of 
Peking for Manila. 

May 25. The President called for 75.000 additional volunteers. 

May 26. The Oregon arrived at Key West. 

May 30. Commodore Schley sent a dispatch that he had seen Cer- 
vera's fleet in the bay of Santiago de Cuba. 

JUNE. 

June I. Admiral Sampson joined Commodore Schley and took 
command of the united American fleets, composed of sixteen warships, 
off Santiago de Cuba. 

June 3. The Merrimac was sunk in the mouth of the Santiago har- 
bor and Hobson was taken prisoner with the seven brave men who vol- 
unteered to accompany him. 

June 6. Ten ships bombarded the batteries at Santiago de Cuba. 

June 7. The French cable was cut in Guantanamo Bay. 

June 10. Six hundred United States marines were landed at Cai- 
manera, near Guantanamo, and located at Camp McCalla. 

June II and 12. Fighting took place at Camp McCalla 
_ June 13. Camara's fleet sailed from Spain. A portion of the first 
mflitary expedition left Tampa, Florida, for Santiago de Cuba. 

June 14. Spanish troops were pursued by scouting parties of ma- 




McKINLEY AT AGE OF 22. 



Our Martyred President 177 

rines and Cubans on Guantanamo Bay; 200 Spaniards killed and 
wounded. 

June 15. The Texas, Marblehead and Suwanee bombarded the forts 
at Caimanera. 

June 16. Forts at Santiago were again bombarded by Sampson's 
fleet. 

June 18. Admiral Camara's fleet arrived at Cartagena. 

June 20. United States troopships arrived at Santiago de Cuba. 

June 21 and 22. The American army under General Shafter landed 
at I)ai(|uiri and Siboney from the troopships. 

June 22. The auxiliary cruiser St. Paul destroyed the Spanish 
torpedo boat Terror. 

June 23. The monitor Monadnock sailed for Manila. 

June 24. General Young and the Rough Riders attack the Span- 
iards at La Guasimas, near Sevilla. Hamilton Fish. Jr., and Captain 
A. K. Capron were killed. 

June 25. The Americans under General Chaffee occupied Sevilla 

June 26. The advance American forces reached San Juan, four miles 
distant from Santiago. 

June 2y. The third Manila expedition, commanded by General 
Arthur MacArthur, sailed from San Francisco. 

June 28. President McKinley issued proclamation extending the 
blockade further of Cuban ports. 

June 29. Alajor-General Merritt sailed for the Philippines from 
San Francisco. General Snyder's division of troops sailed for Santiago 
de Cuba, from Tampa. 

June 30. The cruiser Charleston, with three transports, arrived in 
Manila bay, 

JULY. 

July I and 2. General Lawton, General Kent, General Chaffee, 
General Young, Colonel Roosevelt, with Grimes, Capron and other 
brave officers and men, take the heights of El Caney and San Juan, over- 
looking Santiago de Cuba. The American losses in the two days' 
engagement were : Officers killed, 23 ; men, 208. Officers wounded, 
80; men, 1,203. Missing, 81 men. 

July 3. Destruction of Cervera's fleet. 

July 4. Truce established between the contending forces. 

July 5. General Toral refused to surrender the city. The truce 
was extended. 

July 6. Lieutenant Hobson and his men exchanged. 

July 7. An extension of armistice was granted. 



178 Life of William McKinley 

July 8. The Concord and the Raleigh, of Admiral's Dewey's squad- 
rcju, took possession ot Isla Grande in Subig bay, on the island of Luzon. 

July 9. General Miles sailed from Charleston on the Yale for San- 
tiago dc Cuba. General Toral offered to surrender if his troops were 
permitted to march out with their arms. The proposal was not accepted. 

July II. General Miles arrived at Santiago de Cuba, and conferred 
with General Shafter. Firing was resumed against the Spanish defenses. 

July 14. General Toral agreed to surrender. 

July 15. The fourth Manila expedition sailed from San Francisco, 
under General Otis, with 1,700 troops. 

July 16. Admiral Cervera and the officers captured from his fleet 
arrived at Annapolis as prisoners of war. 

July 17. The city of Santiago de Cuba formally surrendered to 
General Shafter. 

July 18. President McKinley issued his proclamation regarding 
the government of Santiago de Cuba. 

July 25. General Miles landed in Porto Rico, near Ponce. 

July 26. Spain proposed peace through the French ambassador, M. 
Jules Cambon. 

July 27. The American forces advanced against Yauco, in Porto 
Rico. 

July 28. General Brooke sailed with his command fnnn Newport 
News for Porto Rico. 

July 29. The American forces moved towards Malate on the road 
to Manila. 

July 30. The President transmitted to Spain a statement regard- 
ing the basis of peace. 

July 31. Battle of Malate between the Americans and Spanish 
near Cavite and Manila. 

AUGUST. 

Aug. I. The American trooi)s in Porto Rico moved toward San 
Juan, General Miles luu'ing joined Generals Brooke and Sclnvan. 

Aug. 5. The town of Guayama, in Porto Rico, w^as captured after 
a slight engagement by the Fourth Ohio and the Third Illinois Regi- 
ments. 

Aug. 7. ■ Admiral Dewey and General Merritt demanded the surren- 
der of Manila. The demand was refused. 

Aug. 8. A skirmish took place iiear Guayama. Porto Rico. Five 
soldiers of the Fourth Ohio were wounded. 

Aug. 9. The town of Coamo, Porto Rico, was captured. Spain's 
reply to the peace projiosition was presented to the President^ 



Our Martyred President 179 

Aug. 10. Secretary Day and AI. Jules Cambon agreed on the terms 
of a protocol to be sent to Spain for approval. 

Aug. II. A protocol suspending hostilities was signed in Washing- 
ton at 4:23 p. m., M. Jules Cambon having received authority from 
Spain to act for it. 

Aug. 13. 2^1anila surrendered to the troops under General Merritt 
and Admiral Dewey. 

Aug. 17. The President appointed, as commissioners to act regard- 
ing the evacuation of Cuba. Major-General James F. ^^"ade, Rear- Ad- 
miral William T. Sampson, and Major-General Matthew C. Butler. For 
Porto Rico he named Major-General John R. Brooke, Rear-Admiral 
Winfield S. Schley and Brigadier-General William W. Gordon. 

Aug. 19. Spain appointed as commissioners for Cuba, ]\Iajor-Gen- 
eral Gonzales Parrade. Rear-Admiral Pastor y Landere and Marquis 
Montoro. For Porto Rico, Major-General Ortega y Diaz, Commodore 
Vallarino y Carrasco and Judge-Advocate Sanchez Aguila y Leon. 

Aug. 20. A grand naval parade was held in New York, in which 
the New York, Brooklyn, Massachusetts, Indiana, Texas, Oregon and 
Iowa participated. 

SEPTEMBER. 

Sept. 9. President McKinley appointed as peace commissioners 
William R. Day of Ohio, Senators William P. Frye of Maine, Cushman 
K. Davis of Minnesota, George Gray of Delaware and Mr. Whitelaw 
Reid of New York. 
" Sept. 17. The .American commissioners sailed for Paris. 

Sept. 18. The Spanish government appointed as commissioners 
Senor Montero Rios, Senor Abarzuza, Senor Garnica, General Cerero 
and Senor Villarrutia. 

Sept. 20. The evacuation of Porto Rico was begun. 

Sept. 21. Mustering out of volunteers ordered to begin at once. 

Sept. 24. -Much criticism having been made in various directions 
regarding the conduct of the war, the President appointed a Commis- 
sion of Investigation, which convened on this day at Washington. The 
commission was composed of the following persons : Major-General 
'Grenville M. Dodge of Iowa, Colonel J. A. Sexton of Illinois, Captain 
E. P. Howell of Georgia, Major-General J. M. Wilson, chief of engineers 
of the United States army; the Hon. Charles Denby of Indiana, late 
minister to China; ex-Governor Urban A. Woodbury of Vermont, ex- 
Governor James A. Beaver of Pennsylvania, Major-General A. McD. 
McCook of the army (retired). Dr. Phineas S. Connor of Cincinnati. 
General Dodge was elected chairman of the commission. 



i8o Life of William McKinley 

THE TREATY OF PARIS. 

On Christmas Eve, 1898, the Peace Commission delivered to the 
President of the United States a copy of the treaty of peace drawn up 
and signed in the city of Paris, December loth, 1898. By this treaty, 
Spain lost her sovereignty over Cuba and ceded to the United States 
the Island of Porto Rico and her other possessions in the West Indies, 
the Island of Guam in the Ladrones, and all her possessions in the 
Philippines. 

The Spanish Commissioners asked an indemnity for the expense 
Spain had incurred in the war with the Filipinos. 

As a compromise of this claim, the United States agreed to pay Spain 
$20,000,000 within three months after the ratification of the treaty. 

In tlie United States the ratification of the treaty was bitterly 
opposed in many quarters, and it w-as not until Fcl)ruary 6th, 1899, that 
the Senate voted its a])proval. 

Its action was accelerated, no doubt, by the fact that the Filipinos 
had attacked the American forces at Manila on February 5th, and 
although a brilliant victory had been won by our troops, several of the 
brave soldiers had been killed and wounded. The American spirit at 
honie was thoroughly aroused. Patriotism arose above party. Repub- 
licans, Democrats, Populists and Silverites voted to sustain the govern- 
ment by a vote of 57 to 2^. 

COST OF THE WAR IN 1 898 TO BOTtI NATIONS. 
COST TO SPAIN. 

Although we ha\'e not official figures concerning the losses of the 
Spaniards, the folk)wing may be considered a very good estimate : 

LOSS OF TERRITORY. 

Area in sq. miles. Population. Financial value. 

Cuba 41,655 1,631,687 $300,000,000 

Philippines 1 14,650 7,670,000 450,000,000 

Porto Rico 3,670 813,937 150,000,000 

Caroline and Sulu Islands'^' 111,000 

Cost of war $ 125,000,000 

Loss of commerce 20,000,000 

Thirty ships lost 30,000,000 

Total financial loss $1,075,000,000 

*These are unimportant, except for naval stations. 



Our Martyred President i8i 

LOSS OF LIFE. 

Killed 2,500 

Wounded 3,000 

COST TO THE UNITED STATES. 

Over against the enormous losses by Spain we find ours to be the 
following : 

Battleship ]\Iaine $ 2,500,000 

Cost of war 200,000,000 

Indemnity to Spain 20,000,000 

Total $222,500,000 

LOSS OF LIFE. 

Battleship Maine 266 

Killed in action ( about) 253 

Wounded ( about ) 1,324 

Died in camp (about) 2,000 



Total 3'843 

out. 



These figures do not include those who died after being mustered 



CHAPTER XV. 

Country Expands and Becomes a World Power. 

Senator Thtirstun, in apprising Governor McKinley of his nomina- 
tion for the i'residcncy, said: "God give you strength so to bear the 
honors and meet the duties of that great oliice for which you are now 
nominated, and to which you wiH be elected, that your administration 
will enhance the dignity, and power, and glory of this republic, and 
secure the safety, welfare and happiness of its liberty-loving peojile." 

William McKinley seems to have been the chosen servant of the 
Almighty, through whom all those things were to be brought about. 
Under his administration 124,340 square miles of territory was added 
to the public domain, and the country was raised to the rank of a world 
power. Before Dewey's guns spoke at Manila, the great powers of the 
earth looked upon the United States as a third-rate nation. They mur- 
mured somewhat because her enterprise was undermining their com- 
merce, but in the main, they held her lightly. Dewey's victory raised 
their estimate of the calibre oi the people, and when Commodore Schley, 
at Santiago, smashed the fleet of the Spanish Admiral Cervera, the world 
rubbed its eyes and awoke to the consciousness that Brother Jonathan 
had grown as big as any member of the national family, and would 
have to l)c respected accordingly. 

From the purchase of Alaska, in 1867, down to 1893, there had been 
no additions to the public domain. The following table shows the 
growth of the country in territory from the beginning of the government : 

ANNEXATION FROM 1 783 TO 1 893 : 

Amount Paid. Square Miles. 

Louisiana $15,000,000 1,171,931 

Florida 5,000,000 52,268 

Texas 28,500,000 376,133 

California 545-783 

Gadsden Purchase 10,500.000 45-535 

Alaska 7,200,000 577-39<^^ 

$66,200,000 2,769,040 

182 



Our Martyred President 183 

ANNEXATION FROM 1S93 TO I9OI. 

Amount Paid. Square Miles. 

Hawaii <J'740 

Philippine Islands .^JO,ooo,ooo 114,000 

Porto Rico 3'6oo 

$20,000,000 124,340 

Square Miles. 

Original territory 827,844 

Annexed first 1 10 years 2,769,040 

Annexed last three years 124,340 



3,721,224 

President McKinley was nut one of those who believed that the 
United States should never extend her power outside of the territory 
between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the twentieth and fiftieth 
parallels of latitude, lie believed in the people, in government by the 
people, and hence when Hawaii knocked at the doors of the White House 
and said, "Let us come in and be members of your family of states," he 
lent a ready ear. In his second annual message to congress, President 
McKinley said concerning Hawaii : 

"Pending the consideration by the senate of the treaty signed June 
16. 1897. by the plenipotentiaries of the L'n'.ted States and the republic 
of Hawaii, providing for the annexation of the islands, a joint resolu- 
tion to accomi)lish the same purpose by accepting the offered cession 
and incorporating the ceded territory into the Union was adopted by con- 
gress and approved July 7, 1898. I thereupon directed the United States 
steamer Philadelphia to convey Rear Admiral Miller to Honolulu, and 
intrusted to his hands this important legislative act. to be delivered to 
the President of the republic of Plawaii. with whom the admiral and the 
United States minister were authorized to make appropriate arrange- 
ments for transferring the sovereignty of the islands to the United States. 

"This was simply but impressively accomplished on the 12th of 
August last by the delivery of a certified copy of the resolution to Presi- 
dent Dole, who thereupon yielded up to the representative of the govern- 
ment of the United States the sovereignty and public property of the 
Hawaiian islands. 

"Pursuant to the terms of the joint i"esolution and in exercise of the 
authoritv thereby conferred upon me. I directed that the civil, judicial 
and military powers theretofore exercised by the officers of the govern- 
ment of the republic of Hawaii should continue to be exercised by those 



184 Life of William McKinley 

officers until congress shall provide a government for the incorporated 
territory, subject to my power to remove such officers and fill vacancies. 
The President, officers and troops of the republic thereupon took the 
oath of allegiance to the United States, thus providing for the uninter- 
rupted continuance of all the administrative and municipal functions of 
the annexed territory until congress shall otherwise enact. 

"Following the further provisions of the joint resolution, I appointed 
the Hon. Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois ; John T. Morgan, of Alabama ; 
Robert R. Hitt, of Illinois; Sanford B. Dole, of Hawaii, and Walter B. 
Freer, of Hawaii, as commissioners to confer and recommend to con- 
gress such legislation concerning the Hawaiian islands as they should 
deem necessary or proper. The commissioners having fulfilled the mis- 
sion confided to them, their report v;ill be laid before you at an early day. 

"It is believed that their recommendations will have the earnest con- 
sideration due to the magnitude of the responsibility resting upon you to 
give such shape to the relationship of those mid-Pacific lands to our 
home union as will benefit both in the highest degree, realizing the aspira- 
tions of the community that has cast its lot with us and elected to share 
our political heritage, while at the same time justifying the foresight 
of those who for three-quarters of a century have looked to the annexa- 
tion of Hawaii as a natural and inevitable consummation, in harmony 
with our needs and in fulfillment of our cherished traditions. 

"The questions heretofore pending between Hawaii and Japan, grow- 
ing out of the alleged mistreatment of Japanese treaty immigrants, were, 
I am pleased to say, adjusted before the act of transfer l:)y the payment 
of a reasonable indemnity to the government of Japan. 

"Under the provisions of the joint resolu<"'-on the existing customs 
relations of the Hawaiian islands with the United States and with other 
countries remain unchanged until legislation shall otherwise provide. 
The consuls of Hawaii here and in foreign countries continue to fulfill 
their commercial agencies, while the United States consulate at Hono- 
lulu is maintained for all proper services pertaining to trade anc .he 
revenue. It would be desirable that all foreign consuls in the Hawaiian 
islands should receive new exequaturs from this government." 

Hawaii is, from a naval standpoint, the great strategic base of the 
Pacific. Under the present conditions of naval warfare, the result of 
the use of steam as a motive power, Hawaii secures to the maritime 
nation possessing it, an immense advantage as a depot for the supply of 
coal. Possessing Hawaii, the United States is able to advance its line 
of defense 2,000 miles from the Pacific coast, and, with a fortified harbor, 
and a strong fleet at Honolulu, is in a position to conduct either defensive 
or offensive operations in the North Pacific to greater advantage than 
any other power. 



Our Martyred President 185 

For practical purposes, there are eight islands in the Hawaiian group. 
The others are mere rocks, of no value at present. These eight islands, 
lieo-inning from the northwest, are named Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, 
Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui and Hawaii. The areas of the islands are: 

Square miles. 

Niihau 97 

Kauai - 59° 

Oahu 600 

Molokai 270 

Maui 760 

Lanai 150 

Kahoolawe 63 

Hawaii 4-2io 

Total 6,740 

On Oahu is the capital, Honolulu. It is a city numbering 30,000 
inhabitants, and is pleasantly situated on the south side of the Island. 
The city extends a considerable distance up Nuuanu Valley, and has 
wings extending northwest and southeast. Except in the business blocks, 
every house stands in its own garden, and some of the houses are very 
handsome. 

The city is lighted with electric light, there is a complete telephone 
system, and tramcars run at short intervals along the principal streets 
and continue out to a sea-bathing resort and public park, four miles 
from the city. There are numerous stores where all kinds of goods 
can be obtained. The public buildings are attractive and commodious. 
There are numerous churches, schools, a public library of over 10,000 
volumes, Y. M. C. A. Hall, Masonic Temple, Odd Fellows' Hall, and 
theater. There is frequent steam communication with San Francisco, 
once a month with Victoria (British Columbia), and twice a month 
with New Zealand and the Australian colonies. Steamers also connect 
Honolulu with Japan. There are three evening daily papers published 
in English, one daily morning paper and two weeklies. Besides these, 
there are papers published in the Hawaiian, Portuguese, Japanese and 
Chinese languages, and also monthly magazines in various tongues. 

The population of the Islands, in 1897, consisted of 109,020 persons, 
of whom 72,517 were males, and 36,503 females. 

The other territory acquired was purely a result of the Spanish war. 
Porto Rico came into the Union with little resistance on the part of the 
people. They were as anxious, almost, to be rid of Spanish rule, as 
were the Cubans, and its 3,600 square miles of territory will one day 
be among the fairest States of our Union. 



i86 Life of William McKinley 

The Philippines were not so ready to receive American rule as were 
Hawaii and Porto Rico. No better statement of the Philippine question 
will be found than that of President McKinley in his message of Decem- 
ber, 1899. He said : 

*'On the loth of December, 1898, the treaty of peace between the 
United States and Spain was signed. It provided, among other things, 
that Spain should cede to the United States the archipelago known as 
the Philippine Islands, that the United States should pay to Spain the 
sum of $20,000,000, and that the civil rights and political status of the 
native inhabitants of the territories thus ceded to the United States 
should be determined by the congress. 

"The treaty was ratified by the senate on the 6th of Febuary, 1899, 
and by the government of Spain on the 19th of March following. The 
ratifications were exchanged on the nth of April, and the treaty pul)licly 
proclaimed. On the 2d day of March the congress voted the sum con- 
templated by the treaty, and tlie amount was paid over to the Spanish 
government on the ist day of May. 

"In this manner the Philippines came to the United States. Th- 
islands were ceded by the government of Spain, which had been in 
undisputed possession of them for centuries. They were accepted n^i 
merely by our authorized commissioners in Paris, under the direction 
of the executive, but by the constitutional and well-considered action 
of the representatives of the people of the United States in both houses 
of congress. 

"I had every reason to believe, and I still believe, that this transfer 
of sovereignty was in accord widi the wishes and the aspirations of tlie 
great mass of the Filii)ino pe<)i)le, not to make war. 

"From the. earliest moment no opportunity was lost of assuring the 
people of the islands of our ardent desire for their welfare, and of the 
intention of this government to do everything possible to advance their 
interests. In my order of the 19th of Alay, 1898. the commander of 
the military expedition dispatched to the Philippines was instructed to 
declare that we came not to make war upon the people of that country, 
"nor upon any party or faction among them, but to protect them in 
their homes, in their employments, and in their personal and religious 
rights." 

THERE TO PRESERVE PEACE. 

That there should be no doubt as to the paramount authority there, 
on the 17th of August it was directed that "there must be no joint 
occupation with the insurgents;" that the United States must preserve 
the peace and protect persons and property within the territory occu]:>ied 
by their military and naval forces ; that the insurgents and all others 



Our Martyred President 187 

must recognize the military occupation and authority of the United 
States. 

As early as December 4, before the cession, and in anticipation of 
that event, the commander in Manila was urged to restore peace and 
tran(juillity and to undertake the establishment of beneficent govern- 
ment, which should afford the fullest security for life and property. 

On December 21, after the treaty was signed, the commander oii 
the forces of occupation was instructed "to announce and proclaim in 
the most public manner that we come, not as invaders and conquerors, 
but as friends to protect the natives in their homes, in their employments, 
and in their personal and religicnis rights." 

On the same day, while ordering General Otis to see that the peace 
should be preserved in Iloilo, he was admonished that: "It is most 
important that there should be no conflict with the insurgents." On 
the 1st day of January. 1899, urgent orders were reiterated that the 
kindlv intentions of this government should be in e\'ery possible way 
.comnuuiicated to the insurgents. 

THE PillLIPPIXE COMMISSION. 

On January 21 1 announced my intention of dispatching to Manila 
a commission composed of three gentlemen of the highest character and 
distinction, thoroughly acquainted with the orient, who, in association 
with Admiral Dewey and Major-General Otis, were instructed to "facil- 
itate the most humane and effective extension of authority throughout 
the islands, and to secure with the least possible delay the benefits ^of a 
wise and generous protection of life and pro])erty to the inhabitants.' ^ 

These gentlemen were Dr. Jacob Gould Schurman. president of Cor- 
nell University ; Hon. Charles Denby, for many years minister to China, 
and Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of the University of Michigan, who had 
made a most careful study of life in the Thilippines. 

While the treaty of peace was under consideration in the senate 
these commissioners set out on their mission of good will and liberation. 
Their character was a sufticient guaranty of the beneficent purpose with 
which they went, even if they had not borne the positive instructions 
of this government, which made their errand pre-eminently one of peace 
and friendship. 

BLAMES PHILIPPINE LEADERS. 

Before their arrival at Manila the sinister ambition of a igw leaders 
of the Filipinos had created a situation full of embarrassments for us 
and most grievous in its consequences to themselves. The clear and 
impartial preliminary report of the commissioners, which I transmit 
herewith, gives so lucid and comprehensive a history of the present 



1 88 Life of William McKinley 

insurrectionary movement that the story need not be here repeated. 
It is enough to say that the claim of the rebel leader that he was 
promised independence by any officer of the United States in return 
for his assistance has no foundation in fact and is categorically denied 
by the very witnesses who were called to prove it. The most the insur- 
gent leader hoped for when he came back to Manila was the liberation 
of the islands from Spanish control, which they had been laboring for 
years without success to throw off. 

THE AMBITION OF AGUINALDO. 

The prompt accomplishment of this work by the American army 
and navy gave him other ideas and ambitions, and insidious suggestions 
from various quarters perverted the purposes and intentions with which 
he had taken up arms. No sooner liad our army captured Manila than 
the Filipino forces began to assume the attitude of suspicion and hos- 
tility which the utmost efforts of our officers and troops were unable to 
disarm or modify. 

Their kindness and forbearance were taken as a proof of cowardice. 
The aggressions of the Fili])inos continually increased, until finally 
just before the time set by the senate of the United States for a vote 
upon the treaty, an attack, evidently prepared in advance, was made 
all along the American lines, which resulted in a terribly destructive 
and sanguinary repulse of the insurgents. 

ORDER FOR A MASSACRE. 

Ten days later an order of the insurgent government was issued to 
its adherents who had remained in Manila, of which General Otis justly 
observes that "for barbarous intent it is unequaled in modern times." 

It directs that at 8 o'clock on the night of the 15th of February, the 
territorial militia shall come together in the streets of San Pedro, armed 
with their bolos, with guns and ammunition, where convenient- that 
Fihpmo families only shall be respected; but that all other individuals 
of whatever race they may be, shall be exterminated without any com- 
passion, after the extermination of the army of occupation, and adds : 
_ "Brothers, we must avenge ourselves on the Americans and exter- 
minate them, that we may take our revenge for the infamies and treach- 
eries which they have committed upon us. Have no compassion upon 
them; attack with vigor." 

A copy of this fell, by good fortune, into the hands of our officers 
and they were able to take measures to control the rising which was 
actually attempted on the night of February 22, a week later than was 
originally contemplated. 



Our Martyred President 189 

Considerable numbers of armed insurgents entered the city by water- 
ways and swamps, and in concert with confederates inside attempted 
to destroy ^Manila by fire. They were kept in check during the night 
and the next day driven out of the city with heavy loss. 

WHAT THE COMMISSIONERS FOUND. 

This was the unhappy condition of affairs which confronted our 
commissioners on their arrival in Manila. They had come with the 
hope and intention of co-operating with Admiral Dewey and ]Major- 
( General Otis in establishing peace and order in the archipelago and the 
largest measure of self-government compatible with the true welfare of 
the people. What they actually found can best be set forth in their 
own words : 

"Deplorable as war is. the one in which we are now engaged was 
una\oidabIe to us. We were attacked by a bold, adventurous, and 
enthusiastic army. Xo alternative was left to us. except ignominious 
retreat. 

"It is not to be conceived of that any American w^ould have sanc- 
tioned the surrender of Manila to the insurgents. Our obligations to 
other nations and to the friendly Filipincx^ and to ourselves and our flag 
demanded that force should be met with force. Whatever the future 
of the Philippines may be, there is no course open to us now except the 
prosecution of the war until the insurgents are reduced to submission. 
The commission' is of the opinion that there has been no time since the 
destruction of the Spanish squadron liy Admiral Dewey when it was 
possible to withdraw our forces from the islands, either with honor to 
ourselves or with safety to the inhabitants." 

THE REBELLION MUST BE TUT DOWN. 

The course thus clearly indicated has been unflinchingly pursued. 
The rebellion must be put down. Civil government cannot be thor-. 
oughly established until order is restored. With a devotion and gal- 
lantry worthy of its most brilliant history the army, ably and loyally 
assisted by the navy, has carried on this unwelcome but most righteous 
campaign with richly deserved success. 

The noble self-sacrifice with which our soldiers and sailors whose 
terms of service had expired refused to avail themselves of their right 
to return home as long as they were needed at the front, forms one of 
the brightest pages in our annals. 

Although their operations have been somewhat interrupted and 
checked by a rainy season of unusual violence and duration, they have 
gained ground steadily in every direction, and now- look forward confi- 
dently to a speedy completion of their task. 



igo Life of William McKinley 

WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION. 

The unfavorable circumstances connected with an rictive campaign 
have not been permitted to interfere with the equally important work of 
reconstruction. Again I invite your attention to the report of the 
commissioners for the interesting and encouraging details of the work 
already accomplished in the establishment of peace and order and the 
inauguration of self-governing municipal life in many portions of the 
archipelago. 

GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED IN NEGROS. 

A notable beginning has been made in the establishment of a gov- 
ernment in the island of Negros, which is deserving of special considera- 
tion. This was the first island to accept American sovereignty. Its 
people unreservedly proclaimed allegiance to the United States and 
adopted a constitution looking to the establishment of a popular gov- 
ernment. 

It was impossible to guarantee to the people of Negros that the 
constitution so adopted should be the ultimate form of government. 
Such a question, under the treaty with Spain, and in accordance with 
our own constitution and laws, came exclusively within the jurisdiction 
of congress. The government actually set up by the inhabitants of 
Negros eventually proved unsatisfactory to the natives themselves. A 
new system was put into force by order of the major-general command- 
ing the department, of which the following are the most important 
elements : 

It was ordered that the government of the island of Negros should 
consist of a military governor appointed by the United States military 
governor of the Philippines, and a ci\il -governor, and an advisory 
council elected by the people. The military governor was authorized 
to appoint secretaries of the treasury, interior, agriculture, public 
instruction, an attorney-general, and an auditor. The seat of govern- 
ment was fixed at Bacolor. 

The military governor exercises the supreme executive power. He 
is to see that the laws are executed, appoint to ofiice. and fill all vacan- 
cies in office not otherwise provided for, and may, with the approval of 
the militarv governor of the Philippines, remove any officer from office. 

The givil governor advises the military governor on all public civil 
questions and presides over the advisory council. He in general per- 
forms the duties which are performed by secretaries of state in our 
own system of government. 

The advisory council consists of eight members elected by the people 
within territorial limits which are defined in the order of the command- 
ing general. 



Our Martyred President 191 

VOTING IN NEGROS. 

The times and places of holding elections are to be fixed by the mili- 
tary governor of the island of Xegros. The qualifications of \oters are 
as follows : 

I. A voter must be a male citizen of tlie island of Xegros. 2. Of the 
age of 21 years. 3. He shall be able to speak, read, and write the Eng- 
lish, Spanish, or Visayan language, or he must own real property worth 
$500, or pay a rental on real property of the value of $1,000. 4. He 
must have resided in the island not less than one year preceding, and in 
the district in which he offers to register as a voter not less than three 
months immediately preceding the time he offers to register. 5. He 
must register at a time fixed by law before voting. 6. Prior to such 
registration he shall have paid all taxes due by him to the government ; 
provided, that no insane person shall be allowed to register or vote. 

The military governor has the right to veto all bills or resolutions 
adopted by the advisory council, and his veto is final if not disapproved 
by the military governor of the Philippines. 

The advisory council discharges all the ordinary duties of a legis- 
lature. The usual duties pertaining to said offices are to be performed 
by the secretaries of the treasury, interior, agriculture, public instruc- 
tion, the attorney-general, and the auditor. 

The judicial power is vested in three judges, who are to be appointed 
by the military governor of the island. Inferior courts are to be estab- 
lished. 

Free public schools are to be esta1)lished throughout the populous 
districts of the island, in which the English language shall be taught, 
and this subiect will receive the careful consideration of the advisory 
council. 

The burden of government must be distributed equally and equitably 
among the people. The military authorities will collect and receive 
the customs revenue and will control postal matters and Philippine 
inter-island trade and commerce. 

The military governor, subject to the approval of the military gov- 
ernor of the Philippines, determines all questions not specifically pro- 
vided for and which do not come under the jurisdiction of the advisory 
C(^uncil. 

A FEW WORDS ABOUT SULU. 

The authorities of the Sulu islands have accepted the succession of 
the United States to the rights of Spain, and our flag floats over that 
territorv. On the lOth of August. 1899, Brigadier-General J. C. Bates, 
United States Volunteers, negotiated an agreement with the sultan and 



192 Life of William McKinley 

his principal chiefs, which I transmit herewith. By article i, tlie sov- 
ereignty of the United States over the whole archipelago of Jolo and 
its dependencies is declared and acknowledged. 

The United States flag will be used in the archipelago and its de- 
pendencies, on land and sea. Piracy is to be suppressed, and the sultan 
agrees to co-operate heartily with the United States authorities to that 
end and to make every possible effort to arrest and bring to justice all 
persons engaged in piracy. 

All trade in domestic products of the archipelago of Jolo when car- 
ried on W'ith any part of the Philippine islands and under the American 
flag shall be free, unlimited and undutiable. The United States wdll 
give full protection to the sultan in case any foreign nation should 
attempt to impose upon him. 

The United States will not sell the island of Jolo or any other island 
of the Jolo archipelago to any foreign nation without the consent of the 
sultan. Salaries for the sultan and his associates in the administration 
of the islands have been agreed upon to the amount of $760 monthly. 

FREEDOM OF SLAVES IN JOLO. 

Article X provides that any slave in the archipelago of Jolo shall 
have the right to purchase freedom by paying to his master the usual 
market value. The agreement by General Bates was made subject to 
confirmation by the President and to future modifications by the consent 
of the parties in interest. I have confirmed said agreement, subject 
to the action of the congress, and with the reservation which I have 
directed shall be communicated to the sultan of Jolo, that this agree- 
ment is not to be deemed in any w-ay to authorize or give the consent 
of the United States to the existence of slavery in the Sulu archipelago. 
I communicate these facts to the congress for its information and action. 

WINNING THE FILIPINOS. 

Everything indicates that w'ith the speedy suppression of the Tagalo 
reliellion life in the archipelago will soon resume its ordinary course 
under the protection of our sovereignty, and the people of those favored 
islands will enjoy a prosperity and a freedom which they have never 
before known. 

Already hundreds of schools are open and filled with children. 

Religious freedom is sacredly assured and enjoyed. 

The courts are dispensing justice. 

Business is beginning to circulate in its accustomed channels. 

Manila, whose inhabitants were fleeing to the country a few months 
ago, is now a populous and thriving mart of commerce. 




McKINLEY AS FIRST LIEUTENANT TWENTY-THIRD OHIO O. V. I. 
(Taken December, 1862.) 



Our Martyred President 193 

The earnest and unremitting endeavors of the commission and the 
admiral and major-general commanding the department of the Pacific 
to assure the people of the beneficent intentions of this government have 
had their legitimate effect in convincing the great mass of them that 
peace and safety and prosperity and staple government can only be found 
in a loyal acceptance of the authority of the United States. 

FUTURE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINES RESTS WITH CONGRESS. 

The future government of the Philippines rests with the congress of 
the United States. Few graver responsibilities have ever been confided 
o us. 

If we accept them in a spirit worthy of our race and our traditions. 
a great opportunity comes with them. The islands lie under the shelter 
of our flag. They are ours by every title of law and equity. They can 
not be abandoned. 

If we desert them we leave them at once to anarchy and finally to 
barbarism. We fling them, a golden apple of discord, among the rival 
powers, no one of which could permit another to seize them unques- 
tioned. Their rich plains and valleys would be the scene of endless 
strife and bloodshed. 

The advent of Dewey's fleet in Manila bay instead of being, as we 
hope, the dawn of a new day of freedom and progress, will have been 
the beginning of an era of misery and violence worse than any which 
has darkened their unhappy past. 

The suggestion has l^een made that we could renounce our authority 
, over the islands and, giving them independence, could retain a protec- 
j torate over them. 

A PROTECTORATE NOT DESIRABLE. 

This proposition will not be found, I am sure, worthy of your serious 
attention. Such an arrangement would involve at the outset a cruel 
breach of faith. It would place the peaceable and loyal majority, who 
ask nothing better than to accept our authority, at the mercy of the 
minority of armed insurgents. It would make us responsible for the 
acts of the insurgent leaders and give us no power to control them. It 
would charge us with the task of protecting them against each other, 
and defending them against any foreign power with which they chose to 
quarrel. In short, it would take from the congress of the United States 
the pov\-er of declaring war and vest that tremendous prerogative in the 
Tagal leader of the hour. 

NO RECOMMENDATION FOR A FINAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 

It does not seem desirable that I should recommend at this time a 

13 



194 ^*^^ ^^ William McKiniey 

, speciiic and final form of government for these islands. When peace 
\ shall be restored it will be the duty of congress to construct a plan of 
government which shall estabhsh and maintain freedom and order and 
peace in the Philippines. 

; The insurrection is still existing, and when it terminates further 
information will be required as to the actual condition of affairs before 
inaugurating a permanent scheme of civil government.' The full report 
' of the commission, now in preparation, will contain information and 
suggestions which will be of value to congress, and which I will trans- 
mit as soon as it is completed. As long as the insurrection continues 
the miHtary arm must necessarily be supreme. But there is no reason 
why steps should not be taken from time to time to inaugurate gov- 
ernments essentially popular in their form as fast as territory is held 
or controlled by our troops. 

MAY SEND BACK THE COMMISSION. 

To this end I am considering the advisability of the return of the 
commission, or such of the members thereof as can be secured, to aid 
the existing authorities and facilitate this work throughout the islands. 

1 have believed that reconstruction should not begin by the estab- 
lishment of one central civil government for all the islands, with its 
. seat at Manila, but rather that the work should be commenced by build- 
ing up from the bottom, lirst establishing municipal governments and 
then provincial governments, a central government at last to follow. 

WILL UPHOLD THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Until congress shall ha\-e made known the formal expression of its 
will I shall use the authority vested in me by the constitution and the 
statutes to uphold the sovereignty of the United States in these distant 
islands as in all other places where our flag rightfully floats. 

I shall put at the disposal of the army and navy all the means which 
the liberality of congress and the i)eople has ])rovided to cause this 
unprovoked and wasteful insurrection to cease. 

If any orders of mine were required to insure the merciful conduct of 
military and naval operations, they would not be lacking, but every step 
of the progress of our troops has been marked by a humanity which has 
surprised even the misguided insurgents. 

KINDNESS TO FILIPINOS IS IN THE DEFEAT OF AGUINALDO. 

The truest kindness to them will be a swift and effective defeat of 
their present leader. The liour of victory will be the hour of clemency 
and reconstruction. 



Our Martyred President 195 

No effort will be spared to build up the waste places desolated b) 
war and by long years of niisgovernment. We shall not wait for the 
end of strife to begin the beneficent work. W'e shall continue, as we 
have begun, to open the schools and the churches, to set the courts in 
operation, to foster industry, and trade, and agriculture, and in every 
way in our power to make these people whom Providence has brought 
within our jurisdiction feel that it is their liberty and not our power, 
their welfare and not our gain, we are seeking to enhance. 

OUR FLAG EVER WAVES IX BLESSING. 

Our Hag has never waved over any community Init in blessing. 1 
believe the Filipinos will soon recognize the fact that it has not lost its 
gift of benediction in its world-wide journey to their shores. 

Since the above message was written, the islands have been almost 
wholly tranf[uilized. and civil government is rapidly being established. 



I 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Meets the Crisis in China. 

The firmness and wisdom with which the President met the trouble 
with Spain did not end his experiences in foreign warfare. The crisis 
in the affairs of the Chinese empire, which threatened its dismemberment, 
eneraeed his attention. Here, as on all other orreat occasions, the firmness 
and honesty of the President was displayed, and to it is in no small 
measure due the settlement of ([uestic^ns which threatened the peace 
of the civilized world. For a recital of the events attending the rebellion 
in China, we turn again to the President's own words. In his message 
of December 3, 1900, he said: 

"In our foreign intercourse the dominant (juestion has been the 
treatment of the Chinese ])rc)l)lem. .Vpart from this our relations with 
the powers have been happy. 

'The recent troubles in China sprang from the anti-foreign agitation 
which for the past three years has gained strength in the northern 
provinces. Their origin lies deep in the character of the Chinese races 
and in the traditions of their government. The Tai-Ping rebellion and 
the opening of the Chinese ports to foreign trade and settlement disturbed 
alike the homogeneity and the seclusion of China. 

Meanwhile foreign activity made itself felt in all quarters, not alone 
on the coast, but along the great ri\cr arteries and in the remoter dis- 
tricts, carrying new ideas and introducing new associations among a 
primitive people which had pursued for centuries a national policy of 
isolation. 

"The telegraph and the railway spreading over their land, the steamers 
plying on their waterways, the merchant and the missionary penetrating 
year by year farther to the interior, became to the Chinese mind types 
of an alien invasion, changing the course of their national life and fraught 
with vague forebodings of disaster to their beliefs and their self-control. 

"For several years before the present troubles all the resources of 
foreign diplomacy, backed by moral demonstrations of the physical force 
of fleets and arms, have been needed to secure due respect for the treaty 
rights of foreigners and to obtain satisfaction from the responsible 

196 



Our Martyred President 197 

authorities for the sporadic outrages upon the persons and property 
of unoffending sojourners, which from time to time occurred at widely 
separated points in the northern provinces, as in the case of the outbreaks 
in Sze-Chuen and Shan-Tung. 

"Posting of anti-foreign placards became a daily occurrence, which 
ihe repeated reprobation of the imperial power failed to check or punish. 
These inflammatory appeals to the ignorance and superstition of the 
masses, mendacious and absurd in their accusations and deeply hostile 
in their spirit, could not but work cumulati\-e harm. They aimed at no 
])articular class of foreigners ; they were impartial in attacking everything 
foreign. 

"An outbreak in Shan-Tung, in which German missionaries were 
slain, was the too natural result of these malevolent teachings. The post- 
ing of seditious placards, exhorting to the utter destruction of foreigners 
and of every foreign thing, continued unrebuked. Hostile demonstra- 
tions toward the stranger gained strength by organization. 

OFFICIALS CULPABLE. 

"The sect commonly styled the Boxers developed greatly in the 
provinces north of the Yang-Tse, and with the collusion of many notable 
officials, including some in the immediate councils of the throne itself, 
became alarmingly aggressive. No foreigner's life,- outside of the pro- 
tected treaty ports, was safe. No foreign interest was secure from 
spoliation. 

"The diplomatic representatives of the powers in Peking strove in 
vain to check this movement. Protest was followed by demand and 
demand by renewed protest, to be met with perfunctory edicts from the 
])alace and evasions and futile assurances from the tsung-li-yamen. The 
circle of the Boxer influence narrowed about Peking, and, while nominally 
stigmatized as seditious, it was felt that its spirit pervaded the capital 
itself, that the imperial forces were imbued with its doctrines, and thai 
the immediate counselors of the empress dowager were in full sympathy 
with the anti-foreign movement. 

"The increasing gravity of the conditions in China and the imminence 
or peril to our own diversified interests in the empire, as well as to thosa 
of all other treaty governments, were soon appreciated by this govern- 
ment, causing it profound solicitude. 

AMERICAN RELATIONS WITH CHINA. 

"The United States, from the earliest days of foreign intercourse 
with China, had followed a policy of peace, omitting no occasions to 
testify good will, to further tlie extension of lawful trade, to respect 



198 Life of William McKinley 

the sovereignty of its government, antl to insure by all legitimate and 
kindly but earnest means the fullest measure of protection for the lives 
and property of our law-abiding citizens and for the exercise of their 
beneficent callings among the Chinese people. 

"Mindful of this, it was felt to be appropriate that our purposes should 
be pronounced in favor of such course as would hasten united action of 
the powers at Peking to promote the administrative reforms so greatly 
needed for strengthening the imperial government and maintaining the 
integrity of China, in which we believed the whole western world to l)e 
alike concerned. 

"To these ends 1 caused to be addressed to the several powers occu- 
pying territory and maintaining spheres of influence in China the circular 
proposals of 1899. inviting from them declarations of their intentions 
and \icws as to the desirability of the adoption of measures insuring 
the benefits of equality of treatment of all foreign trade throughout 
China. 

EARLY NEGOTIATIONS SUCCESSFUL. 

"With gratifying unanimity the responses coincided in this common 
policy, enabling me to see in the successful termination of these negotia- 
tions proof of the friendly spirit which animates the various powers 
interested in the imtrammeled development of commerce and industry 
in the Chinese emi)ire as a source of vast benefit to the whole commercial 
world. 

"In this conclusion, which I liad the gratification to announce as a 
completed engagement to the interested powers on March 20. 1900, 1 
hopefully discerned a potential factor for the abatement of the distrust 
of foreign purposes which for a year past had appeared to inspire the 
policy of the imperial government, and for the effective exertion by it of 
power and authority to quell the critical anti-foreign movement 'in the 
northern provinces most immediately influenced by the Manchu senti- 
ment. 

"Seeking to testify confidence in the willingness and ability of the 
imperial administration to redress the wrongs and prevent the evils we 
suffered and feared, the marine guard, which had been sent to Peking 
m the autumn of 1899 for the protection of the legation, was withdrawn 
at the earliest practicable moment, and all pending questions were re- 
mitted, as far as we were concerned, to the ordinary reports of diplomatic 
intercourse. 

"The Chinese government proved, however, unable to check the 
rising strength of the Boxers and appeared to be a prey to internal dissen- 
sions, 



Our Martyred President 199 

TUAN THE LEADER. 

In the unequal contest the anti-foreign influences soon gained the as- 
cendency under the leadership of Prince Tuan. Organized armies of 
Boxers, with which the imperial forces affiliated, held the country 
between Peking and the coast, penetrated into Manchuria up to the 
Russian border, and through their emissaries threatened a like rising 
throughout northern China. 

"Attacks upon foreigners, destruction of their property, and slaughter 
of native converts were reported from all sides. The tsung-li-yamen, 
already permeated with hostile sympathies, could make no effective re- 
sponse to. the appeals of the legations. At this critical juncture, in the 
early spring of this year, a proposal was made by the other powers that 
a combined fleet should be assembled in Chinese waters as a moral dem- 
onstration, under cover of which to exact of the Chinese government re- 
spect for foreign treaty rights and the suppression of the Boxers. 

The United States, while not participating in the joint demonstra- 
tion, promptly sent from the Philippines all ships that could be spared for 
service on the Chinese coast. A small force of marines was landed at 
Taku and sent to Peking for the protection of the American legation. 
Other powers took similar action, until some 400 men were assembled 
in the capital as legation guards. 

"Still the peril increased. The legations reported the development 
of the seditious movement in Peking and the need of increased provision 
for defense against it. \\'hile preparations were in progress for a larger 
expedition, to strengthen the legation guards and keep the railway open, 
an attempt of the f«^reign ships to make a landing at Taku was met by a 
fire from the Chinese forts. 

"The forts were thereupon shelled by the foreign vessels, the Amer- 
ican admiral taking no part in the attack, on the ground that we were 
not at war with China and that a hostile demonstration might consoli- 
date the anti-foreign elements and strengthen the Boxers to oppose the 
relieving column. 

"Two days later the Taku forts were captured after a sanguinary con- 
flict. Severance of communication with Peking followed, and a combined 
force of additional guards, which was advancing to Peking by the Pei-Ho 
was checked at Lang Fang. The isolation of the legations was complete. 
"The siege and the relief of the legations have passed into undying 
history. In all the stirring chapter which records the heroism of the 
■ devoted band, clinging to hope in the face of despair, and the undaunted 
^pirit that led their relievers through battle and suffering to the goal, 
it is a memory of which my countrymen may be justly proud that the 
honor of our flag was maintained alike in the siege and the rescue, and 



200 Life of William McKinley 

that stout American hearts have again set high, in fervent emulation with 
true men of other race and language, the indomitable courage that ever 
strikes for the cause of right and justice. 

MURDER OF VON KETTELER. 

"By June 19 the legations were cut off. x\n identical note from the 
yamen ordered each minister to leave Peking, under a promised escort, 
within twenty-four hours. To gain time they replied, asking prolonga- 
tion of the time, which was afterward granted, and requesting an inter- 
view with the tsung-li-yamen on the following day. 

"No reply being received, on the morning of the 20th the German 
minister, Baron von Ketteler, set out for the yamen to obtain a response, 
and on the way was murdered. 

"An attempt by the legation guard to recover his body was foiled by 
the Chinese. Armed forces turned out against the legations. Their 
quarters were surrounded and attacked. The mission compounds were 
abandoned, their inmates taking refuge in the British legation, where 
all other legations and guards gathered for more effective defense. 
Four hundred persons were crowded in its narrow compass. Two thou- 
sand native converts were assembled in a near by palace under protection 
of the foreigners. Lines of defense were strengthened, trenches dug. 
barricades raised, and preparations made to stand a siege, which at once 
began. 

QUOTES conger's REPORT. 

" 'From June 29 until July 17,' writes Minister Conger, 'there was 
scarcely an hour during which there was not firing upon some part of 
our lines and into some of the legations, varying from a single shot 
to a general and continuous attack along the whole line.' 

"Artillery was placed around the legations and on the overlooking 
palace walls, and thousands of three-inch Imllets and shell were fired, 
destroying some buildings and damaging all. So thickly did the balls 
rain that, when the ammunition of the besieged ran low, five quarts of 
Chinese bullets were gathered in an hour in one compound and recast. 

"Attempts were made to burn the legations by setting neighboring 
houses on fire, but the flames were successfully fought off, although the 
.Austrian, Belgian, Italian, and Dutch legations were then and sub- 
sequently burned. With the aid of the native converts, directed by the 
missionaries, to whose helpful co-operation Mr. Conger awards unstinted 
praise, the British legation was made a veritable fortress. The British 
minister, Sir Claude Macdonald, was chosen general commander of the 
defense, with the secretary of the American legation. E. 0. Squires, as 
chief of staff. 



Our Martyred President 201 

"To save life and ammunition the besieged sparingly returned the in- 
cessant fire of the Chinese soldiery, fighting only to repel attack or make 
an occasional successful sortie for strategic advantage, such as that of 
fifty-five Americans, British, and Russian marines led by Captain Myers 
of the United States Marine corps, which resulted in the capture of a 
formidable barricade on the wall that gravely menaced the American 
])osition. It was held to the last, and proved an invaluable acquisition, 
liecause commanding the water gate through which the relief column 
entered. 

"During the siege the defenders lost sixty-five killed, 135 wounded, 
and seven by disease — the last all children. 

"On July 14 the besieged had their first communication with the 
tsung-li-yamen, from whom a message came inviting to a conference, 
which was declined. Correspondence, however, ensued, and a sort of 
armistice was agreed upon, which stopped the bombardment and lessened 
the rifle fire for a time. Even then no protection whatever was afforded, 
nor any aid given, save to send to the legations a small supply of fruit 
and three sacks of flour. 

IMPERIAL TROOPS GUILTY. 

"Indeed, the only communication had with the Chinese government 
related to the occasional delivery or dispatch of a telegram or to the de- 
mands of the tsung-li-yamen for the withdrawal of the legation to the 
coast under escort. Not only are the protestations of the Chinese govern- 
ment that it protected and succored the legations positively contradicted, 
but irresistible proof accumulates that the attacks upon them were made 
by the imperial troops, regularly uniformed, armed, and officered, belong- 
ing to the command of Jung Lu, the imperial commander-in-chief. 

"Decrees encouraging the Boxers, organizing them under prominent 
imperial oflkers, provisioning them, and even granting them large sums 
in the name of the empress dowager, are known to exist. Members of 
the tsung-li-yamen who counseled protection of the foreigners were be- 
headed. Even in the distant provinces men suspected of foreign sym- 
pathy were put to death, prominent among these being Chang- Yen-Hoon, 
formerly Chinese minister in Washington. 

"With the negotiation of the partial armistice of July 14, a pro- 
ceeding which was doubtless promoted by the representations of the 
Chinese envoy in Washington, the way was opened for the conveyance 
to Mr. Conger of a test message sent by the secretary of state through 
the kind offices of ^Minister Wu-Ting-Fang. Mr. Conger's reply dis- 
patched from Peking on July 18 through the same channel, afforded 



202 Life of William McKinley 

to the uulside world the tirst tidings that the inmates of the legations 
were still alive and hoping for succor. 

"This news stimtilated the preparations for a joint relief expedition 
in numbers sufficient to overcome the resistance which for a month had 
been organizing between Taku and the capital. Re-inforcements sent by 
all the co-operating governments were constantly arriving. The United 
States conangent, hastily assembled from the Philippines or dispatched 
from this country, amounted to some 5,000 men, under the able command 
first of the lamented Col. Liscum and afterward of Gen. Chafifee. 

"Toward the end of July the movement began. A severe conflict 
followed at Tientsin, in w^hich Col. Liscum w^as killed. The city was 
stormed and partly destroyed. Its capture afforded the base of operations 
from which to make the final advance, which began in the first days of 
August, the expedition being made up of Japanese. Russian. British and 
American troops at the outset. 

"Another battle w'as fought and won at Yang Tsun. Thereafter the 
disheartened Chinese troops offered little show of resistance. A few 
days later the important position of Ho-Si-Woo was taken. A rapid 
march brought the united forces to the populous city of Tung Chow, 
wdiich capitulated v.ithout a contest. 

"On August 14 the capital was reached. After a brief conflict be- 
neath the walls the relief column entered and the legations were saved. 

"The United States soldiers, saik^rs and marines, officers and men 
alike, in those distant climes and unusual surroundings, showed the same 
valor, discii)line and good conduct and gave proof of the same high de- 
gree of intelligence and efticiency which have distinguished them in 
every emergency. 

"The imperial family and the government had fled a few days be- 
fore. Tlie city was without visil)le control. The remaining imperial sol- 
diery had made on the night of the i3t]i a last attempt to exterminate 
the besieged, which was gallantly repelled. It fell to the occupying 
forces to restore order and organize a provisional administration. 

"Happily the acute disturbances were confined to the northern prov- 
inces. It is a relief to recall and a pleasure to record the loyal conduct 
of the viceroys and local authorities of the southern and eastern pro\- 
inces. 

"Their efforts w^re continuously directed to the pacific control of the 
vast populations under their rule and to the scrupulous observance of 
foreign treaty rights. 

"At critical moments they did not hesitate to memorialize the throne, 
urging the protection of the legations, the restoration of communication 
and the assertion of the imperial authority against the subversive ele- 



Our Martyred President 203 

meiits. They maintained excellent relations with the official representa- 
tives of foreign powers. To their kindly disposition is largely due the 
success of the consuls in removing many of the missionaries from the 
interior to places of safety. In this relation the action of the consuls 
should be highly commended. In Shan-Tung and eastern Chi-Li the task 
was difficult, but, thanks to their energy and the co-operation of Ameri- 
can and foreign naval commanders, hundreds of foreigners, including 
those of other nationalities than ours, were rescued from imminent peril. 

UNITED STATES POLICY UNCHANGED. 

"The policy of the United States through all this trying period was 
clearly announced and scrupulously carried out. A circular note to the 
powers dated July 3 proclaimed our attitude. Treating the condition in 
the north as one of virtual anarchy, in which the great provinces of the 
-( luth and southeast had no share, we regarded the local authorities in the 
latter riuarters as representing the Chinese people with whom we sought 
to remain in peace and friendship. 

"Our declared aims involved no war against the Chinese nation. We 
adhered to the legitimate office of rescuing the imperiled legation, ob- 
taining redress for wrongs already suffered, securing wherever possible 
the safety of American life and property in China, and preventing a 
spread of the disorders or their recurrence. 

"As was then said, 'the p(ilicy of the government of the United States 
is to seek a solution which may bring about permanent safety and peace 
to China, preserve Chinese territorial and administrative entity, protect all 
rights guaranteed to friendly powers by treaty and international law. 
and safeguard for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade 
with all parts of the Chinese empire.' 

"Faithful to those professions which, as it proved, reflected the views 
and purposes of the otlier co-operating governments, all our efforts have 
been directed toward ending the anomalous situation in China by nego- 
tiations for a settlement at the earliest possible moment. As soon as the 
sacred duty of relieving our legation and its dependents was accomplished 
we withdrew from active hostilities, leaving our legation under an ade- 
quate guard at Peking as a channel of negotiation and settlement — a 
course adopted by others of the interested powers. Overtures of the 
empowered representatives of the Chinese emperor have been consid^ 
erably entertained. 

"The Russian proposition looking to the restoration of imperial 
power in Peking has been accepted as in full consonance with our own de- 
sires, for we have held, and hold, that effective reparation for wrongs 
suffered, and an enduring settlement that will make their recurrence ini- 



204 Life oi William McKinley 

possible, can best be brought about under an authority which the Chinese 
nation reverences and obeys. While so doing we forego no jot of our un- 
doubted right to exact exemplary and deterrent punishments of the re- 
sponsible authors and abettors of the criminal acts whereby we and other 
nations must have suffered grievous injury. 

MUST PUNISH CULPRITS. 

"For the real culprits, the evil counselors who have misled the im- 
perial judgment and diverted the sovereign authority to their own guilty 
ends, full explanation becomes imperative within the rational limits of 
retributive justice. Regarding this as the initial condition of an accept- 
able settlement between China and the powers, I said in my message of 
October i8 to the Chinese emperor : 

"I trust that negotiations may begin so soon as we and the other of- 
fended governments shall be effectively satisfied of your majesty's ability 
and power to treat with just sternness the principal offenders, who are 
doubly culpable, not only toward the foreigners, but toward your maj- 
esty, under whose rule the purpose of China is to dwell in concord with 
the world had hitherto found expression in the welcome and protection 
assured to strangers. 

"Taking, as a point of departure, the imperial edict appointing Earl 
Li Hung Chang and Prince Ching j^lenipotentiaries to arrange a settle- 
ment, and the edict of Sept. 25, whereby certain high officials were 
designated for punishment, this government has moved, in concert with 
the other powers, toward tlie o]-)ening of negotiations, which Mr. Conger, 
assisted by Mr. Rockhill. has been authorized to conduct on behalf of the 
United States. 

"General bases of negotiation formulated by the government of the 
French republic have been accepted with certain reservations as to details, 
made necessary by our own circumstances, but, like similar reservations 
by other powers, open to discussion in the progress of the negotiations. 
The disposition of the emperor's government to admit liability for wrongs 
done to foreign governments and their nationals, and to act upon such 
additional designation of the guilty persons as the foreign ministers at 
Peking may be in a position to make, gives hope of a complete settlement 
of all questions involved, assuring foreign rights of residence and inter- 
course on terms of equality for all the world. 

"I regard as one of the essential factors of a durable adjustment the 
securement of adequate guarantees for liberty of faith, since insecurity 
of those natives who may embrace alien creeds is a scarcely less effectual 
assault upon the rights of foreign worship and teaching than would be 
the direct invasion thereof, 



Our Martyred President 205 

"The matter of indemnity for our wronged citizens is a question of 
grave concern. Measured in money alone, a sufficient reparation may 
prove to be beyond the abihty of China to meet. All the powers concur in 
emphatic disclaimers of any purpose of aggrandizement through tlie dis- 
memberment of the empire. 

"I am disposed to think that due compensation may be made in part 
by increased guarantees of security for foreign rights and immunities, 
and, most important of all, by the opening of China to the equal com- 
merce of all the world. These views have been and will be earnestly ad- 
vocated by our representatives. 

"The government of Russia has put forward a suggestion that in the 
event of protracted divergence of views in regard to indemnities the 
matter may be relegated to the court of arbitration at The Hague. I 
favorably incline to this, believing that high tribunal could not fail to 
reach a solution no less conducive to the stability and enlarged prosperity 
of China itself than immediately beneficial to the powers." 

From the first invasion of China by foreign troops, the president pro- 
nounced firmly against any settlement of the trouble which included a 
partition of the empire. It was believed that such an act was contem- 
plated by some of the European nations, and President McKinley made it 
clear that such a thing could never be consummated with the consent of 
this government. As a result of this stand a settlement was reached, 
which is believed to have been just and honorable to all. 



CHAPTER XVIL 

Renominated and Re-Elected President. 

Four years of William McKiiiley's rule had worked wonders for 
the American republic. Before his election there had been lethargy in 
commercial circles. Industry had been circumscribed, prices were low, 
and money was scarce. Immediately upon the announcement of his 
election, the material condition of the country began to improve. Capi- 
tal came out of its hiding place. The captains of industry took their 
place in the ranks, and the prosperity of v/hich he had talked during the 
summer of 1896, at Canton, began to dawn. 

Before the end of his first term, the country had been placed on a 
sound financial basis, the ([uestion of tariffs had been adjusted to the 
satisfaction of the majority of tlie people, a great war had been fought, 
and by far the greater number of the victorious armies had returned to 
pursuits of peace. More than one hundred thousand square miles of 
territory had been added to the country, and the administration was en- 
gaged in establishing government over these new sections, and providing 
for the welfare of their peoples. 

Under such circumstances there was only one name mentioned for 
the ]M-esidency among republicans in 1900, and that was William Mc- 
Kinley. 

The convention met in Philadelphia, June 19. It was called to order 
by Senator M. A. Hanna, chairman of the national committee, amidst 
the greatest enthusiasm. There were 906 delegates, and they shouted 
with an exuberance rarely heard apart from such a gathering. In his 
opening remarks, Chairman Hanna said: "We are now forming our 
battalions under the leadership of our general, William McKinley," and 
a roar arose that continued for several minutes. He then introduced 
Senator Wolcott, of Colorado, as temporary chairman of the conven- 
tion. In his address, Senator Wolcott said : 

"The spirit of justice and liberty that animated our fathers found 
voice three-quarters of a century later in this same City of Brotherly 
Love, when Fremont led the forlorn hope of united patriots who laid 
here the foundation of our party, and put human freedom as its corner- 
stone. It compelled our ears to listen to the cry of suffering- across the 
shallow waters of the gulf two years ago. While we observe the law 

206 



Our Martyred President 207 

of nations and maintain that neutrality which we owe to a great and 
friendly government, the same spirit lives today in the genuine sympa- 
thy we cherish for the brave men now^ fighting for their homes in the 
veldts of South Africa. It prompts us in our deterirunation to give 
the dusky races of the Philippines the blessings of good government 
and republican institutions, and finds voice in our indignant protest 
.'gainst the violent suppression of the rights of the colored men in the 
-uuth. That spirit will survive in the breasts of patriotic men as long 
as the nation endures, and the events of the past have taught us that it 
can find its fair and free and full expression only in the principles and 
policy of the republican party. 

"The first and pleasant duty of this great convention, as well as its 
instinctive impulse, is to send a message of affectit)nate greeting to our 
leader and our country's president, William ]\lcKin]ey. In all that 
pertains to our welfare in times of i>eace his genius has directed us. He 
has shown an unerring mastery of the economic problems w^hich con- 
front us, and has guided us out of the slough of financial disaster, im- 
paired credit, and commercial stagnation, up to the high and safe ground 
of national prosperity and financial stability. Through the delicate and 
trying events of the late war he stood firm, courageous and conserva- 
tive, and under his leadership we emerged triumphant, our national 
honor untarnished, our credit unassailed, and the ecjual devotion of every 
section of our common country to the welfare of the republic, cemented 
forever. Never in the memory of this generation has there stood at 
the head of the government a truer patriot, a wiser or more courageous 
leader, or a better example of the highest type of American manhooil. 
The victories of peace and the victories of war are alike inscribed upon 
his banner." 

The second day's proceedings of the convention introduced Senator 
11. C. Lodge, of Massachusetts, as the permanent chairman of the body. 
Twenty thousand people attended the session, in the expectation that 
I Resident McKinley would be renominated, but for the time being they 
were disappointed. In his opening speech Chairman Lodge said : 

"Dominant among the issues of four years ago was that of our mone- 
tary and financial system. The republican party promised to uphold our 
credit, to protect our currency from revolution and to maintain the gold 
standard. We have done so. Failing to secure, after honest effort, 
any encouragement for international bimetallism, we have passed a law 
strengthening the gold standard and planting it more firmly than ever 
in our financial system, improving our banking laws, buttressing our 
credit, and refunding the public debt at 2 per cent interest, the lowest 
rate in the world. It was a great work well done." 

Concerning the war with Spain he said : 



2o8 Lite of William McKinley 

"Here they are, these great feats : A war of a hundred days, with 
many victories and no defeats, with no prisoners taken from us, and no 
advance stayed ; with a triumphant outcome startling in its completeness 
and in its world-wide meaning. Was ever a war more justly entered 
upon, more quickly fought, more fully won, more thorough in its results? 
Cuba is free. Spain has been driven from the Western hemisphere. 
Fresh glory has come to our arms and crowned our flag. It w^as the 
work of the American people, but the republican party was their instru- 
ment. 

"So much for the past. We are proud of it, but we do not expect to 
live upon it, for the republican party is pre-eminently the party of action, 
and its march is ever forward. The deeds of yesterday are in their turn 
a pledge and proof that what we promise we perform, and that the peo- 
ple who put faith in our declarations in 1896 were not deceived, and may 
place the same trust in us in 1900. But our pathway has never lain 
among dead issues, nor have we won our victories and made history by 
delving in political graveyards. 

"We are the party of today, with cheerful yesterdays and confident 
tomorrows. The living present is ours; the present of prosperity and 
activity in business, of good wages and quick payments, of labor em- 
ployed and capital invested ; of sunshine in the market-place and the stir 
of abounding life in the workshop and on the farm. It is wuth this 
that we have replaced the depression, the doubts, the dull business, the 
low wages, the idle labor, the frightened capital, the dark clouds which 
overhung industry and agriculture in 1896. This is what we would 
preserve, so far as sound government and wise legislation can do it. 
This is what we offer now." 

In such an atmosphere of optimism the convention proceeded to 
adopt the platform on which the candidate should ask the suffrages of 
the American electorate. That document set forth that four years 
before — 

"When the people assembled at the polls after a term of democratic 
legislation and administration, business was dead, industry was para- 
lyzed, and the national credit disastrously impaired. The country's 
capital was hidden away and its labor distressed and unemployed. 

"The democrats had no other plan with which to improve the ruin- 
ous conditions, which they had themselves produced, than to coin silver 
at the ratio of 16 to i. The republican party, denouncing this plan 
as sure to produce conditions even worse than those from which relief 
was sought, promised to restore prosperity by means of two legislative 
measures — a protective tariff and a law making gold the standard of 
value. 




BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL SAIn^UEL FALLOWS 



Our Martyred President 209 

"The people, by great majorities, issued to the republican party a 
commission to enact these laws. This commission has been executed, 
and the republican promise is redeemed. Prosperity, more general and 
more abundant than we have ever known, has followed these enact- 
ments. There is no longer controversy as to the value of any govern- 
ment obligations. Every American dollar is a gold dollar, or its assured 
equivalent, and American credit stands higher than that of any other 
nation. Capital is fully employed and everywhere labor is profitably 
occupied. 

"AVe endorse the administration of William McKinley. Its acts 
have been established in wisdom and in patriotism, and at home and 
abroad it has distinctly elevated and extended the influence of the Ameri- 
can nation. Walking untried paths and facing unforeseen responsi- 
bilities. President ]\lcKinley has been in every situation the true Ameri- 
can patriot, and the ui)right statesman, clear in vision, strong in judg- 
ment, firm in action, always inspiring, and deserving the confidence of 
his countrymen." 

The platform further declared in favor of a renewal of "allegiance 
to the principle of the gold standard"; of a law to effectually restrain 
and prevent all conspiracies and comljinations intended to restrict busi- 
ness, to create monopolies, to limit production or to control prices; the 
protection policy was endorsed, and legislation in favor of the interests 
of workingmen advocated ; help to American shipping, pensions for sol- 
diers, maintenance of the civil service system, construction of an isthmian 
canal, and endorsement of the treaty of Paris were also favored. 

• This brought the convention to its third and last day's session, and it 
was a veritable love feast. Factional fights and all friction as to policy 
had been swept away. All that was now necessary was the naming of 
the ticket. Twenty thousand people again crowded the convention hall, 
and the great building was shaken again and. again by the enthusiastic 
applause of the multitude. 

x\labama yielded to Ohio when the call of states began, and Senator 
Foraker. to whom had been accorded the honor of nominating the 
president, arose and said : 

"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention : Alabama yields 
to Ohio, and I thank Alabama for that accommodation. Alabama has 
so yielded, however, by reason of a fact that would seem in an important 
sense to make the duty that has been assigned to me a superfluous duty, 
for Alabama has yielded because of the fact that our candidate for the 
presidency has in fact been already nominated. He was nominated 
by the distinguished senator from Colorado when he assumed the duties 
of temporary chairman. He was nominated again yesterday by the 

14 



2IO Life of William McKinley 

distinguished senator from Massachusetts, when he took the office oi 
permanent chairman, and he was nominated for a third time when the 
senator from Indiana yesterday read us the platform. 

"And not only has he been nominated by this convention, but he wa- 
also nominated by the whole American people. From one end pf this 
land to the other, in every mind, only one and the same man is thought 
of for the honor which we are now about to confer, and that man is the 
lirst choice of every other man who wishes republican success next 
November. Upon this account, it is indeed not necessary for me or 
anyone else to speak for him here or elsewhere. He has already spoken 
for himself, and to all the world. 

"He has a record replete with brilliant achievements; a record thai 
speaks at once both his performances and his highest energy. It com- 
prehends both peace and war, and constitutes the most striking illustra- 
tion possible of triumphant and inspiring fidelity and success in the dis- 
charge of public duty." 

The nomination was seconded by Go\'ernor Roosevelt, Senator Thur- 
ston, John W. Yerkes, of Kentucky, George Knight, of California, and 
Governor Mount, of Indiana. When Senator Foraker pronounced the 
name of the president, there was a great demonstration on the part of 
the convention. Someone threw into the delegate's division a great 
bundle of red, white and blue plumes, made of pampas grass. The dele- 
gates caught them u]), and with flags, handkerchiefs and state Ijanners 
waving, shouted themselves hoarse. The whole convention, 906 dele- 
gates, voted for President McKinley. 

Then came the nomination for vice-president. The wisdom of the 
convention had decided on Governor Roosevelt, and all other candidates 
had withdrawn from the contest. Though strongly against his inclina- 
tion, the governor had agreed to accept the position. Colonel Lafayette 
Young, of Iowa, nominated the governor, and Butler Murray, of Massa- 
chusetts, Gen. J. M. Ashton, of Wisconsin, and Senator Depew, of New 
York, seconded the nomination. At the close of the convention, Senator 
Depew said : 

"We have the best ticket ever presented. We ha\'e at the head of it 
a western man with eastern notions, and we have at the other end, an 
eastern man with western character — the statesman and the cowboy, the 
accomplished man of affairs, and the heroic fighter. The man who has 
proved great as president, and tlie fighter who has proved great as gov- 
ernor. We leave this old towm simply to keep on shouting and work- 
ing to make it unanimous for McKinley and for Roosevelt."" 

The democrats again nominated ^Vi]1iam J. Bryan, but the countr\- 
Wcis not more ready to accept this young man tlian it had been in 1896. 



Our Martyred President 211 

In fact, he secured fewer votes than had been given him in his previous 
race. President McKinley secured 7,208,244, against 6,358,789 for Mr. 
Bryan. In the electoral college the vote stood, President McKinley, 
392; Mr. Bryan, 155. 

Amidst the applause of admiring thousands. President McKinley, 
for the second time, took the oath of office, March 4, 1901. He retained 
his former cabinet ministers, and was steadfastly carrying out the great 
work he had begun when he was stricken down by the bullets of the 
assassin. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Anecdotes and Incidents in McKinley's Life. 

RESPECT FOR THE SABBATH. 

He had for the observance of the Sabbath the most profound respect. 
At one time during the presidential campaign a large party of visitors, 
who had arrived in Canton on Sunday morning, sent a message to Mr. 
McKinh^y, stating that they would call upon him accompanied by a band 
of music. He sent word in reply: 'This is the Sabbath day and I 
cannot receive delegations, much would I have you to come with a band 
of music on the Sabbath. I cannot ,in any event, see you this morning, 
for I must go to church. I attend the First Methodist Episcopal church 
and would advise you to be present, and then if you really desire to call 
durmg the day, and care to drop into my home individually, or one or 
two at a time, for the purpose of receiving a friendly greeting, all right, 
but you must not come as a delegation." 

SUNDAY BEFORE INAUGURATION. 

An interesting incident occurred the last Sunday Mr. McKinley 
spent in Canton before going to Washington to be inaugurated Presi- 
dent. He requested his pastor some days in advance to preach on that 
Sunday, as he did not wish to have a stranger indulge in "words of 
eulogy to him. He said : "I want my own pastor to preach the last 
Sunday before I go to \\'ashington." Once he said: "If you or any 
one else should begin to gush over me. I would get up and lea\-e the 
church." The hymn sung on that occasion was No. 602 in the Methodist 
hymn-book : 

"It may not be our lot to wield 
The sickle in the ripened held; 
Nor ours to hear, on summer eves 
The reaper's song among the sheaves. 

"Yet where our duty's task is wrought 
In unison with God's great thought 
The near and future blend in one. 
And whatsoever is willed, is done. 



212 



Our Martyred President 213 

"And ours the greatful service whence 
Comes, day by day, the recompense; 
The hope, the trust, ihe purpose stayed, 
The fountain, and the noonday shade. 

"And were this life the utmost span, 
The only end and aim of man. 
Better the toil of fields like these 
Than waking dream and slothful ease.'' 

Mr. McKinley was so pleased with the sentiment of the hymn that 
the next day he asked the board of trustees, as a special favor, to give 
him the copy of the book from which he sang the day before, saying 
that he had marked that hymn and that he would like to have that 
particular book. 

MEETING A CRISIS OX A BATTLE FIELD. 

It is a very dangerous thing for a military man to disobey or change 
the orders of his commanding officer. But a true soldier, who has later 
acquired information which such officer does not possess, and which if 
known would cause a modification of his orders, must be disobedient and 
take the consequences. Captain McKinley was such a soldier. 

It was at the battle of Opequan, fought near Winchester, Va., Sep- 
tember 19, 1864. Captain McKinley was acting as an aide-de-camp on 
the staff of General Sheridan and General Deval was commanding 
the second division. General Crook sent McKinley with a verbal order 
to General Deval, commanding him to move quickly by a certain road 
and take his position on the right of the Sixth corps. In going to 
General Deval, jMcKinley took this road, through a ravine, and found 
it almost blockaded with broken wagons, dead horses and fallen trees. 
It was with difficulty that he could get through and, when he reached. 
Deval and delivered his order as given him, he added : "But, General, 
I have come over that road and it is so obstructed that an army could 
not move that way quickly enough to be of any service. There is another 
route, by which I am sure you could reach the place assigned you and 
I suggest that you take that one." 

General Deval was a trained soldier and felt the responsibility of 
his position too much to disobey an order from his superior officer, 
even in the letter, but he saw the force of McKinley's suggestion. He 
hesitated as to what to do, and then said : "Captain, I must obey Gen- 
eral Crook's order to the letter. What road did he say I should take?" 

It was the captain's time to hesitate. He saw that General Deval 's 
idea of military discipline would compel him to follow the order to 



214 Life of William McKinley 

the letter, and he knew, from his own experience, that an army could 
not move along that route and reach his position in time to be of 
service. He answered : "General Deval, General Crook commands you 
to move your division along this road (mentioning the one he had sug- 
gested and take up your position on the right of the Sixth corps.'" 
General Deval accepted the order and, moving his command as directed, 
was able to reach his new position in time to be of great service in driv- 
ing the enemy from their fortified position and saving the Union troops 
from defeat. 

When Captain McKinley reported to General Crook what he had 
done, the general looked at him in amazement as he asked : ''Did you 
fully understand the risk you took in changing the order you were in- 
trusted to deliver to General Deval?" 

*'I did,'' was the captain's reply. 

"Did you know that you were liable to be court-martialed and 
dismissed from the service, and, had it led to disaster, shot as a 
traitor?" 

"T did, genera], but I was willing to take that risk to save the 
battle." 

General Crook looked the young captain in the eyes for a minute 
and saw that he was dealing with a man who had the courage to put 
aside technicalities and do his duty as judgment and conscience and 
absolute personal knowledge of the situation dictated, without regard t>) 
the consequences, and he said : 

"Captain, you have saved the battle, and you are a brave man ; but 
I would not advise you to take such risks again, as, in case of failure, 
even the officer who received t1ie command, to do his duty in the light 
of your knowledge, the blame would rest upon you alone." 

Mckinley's first law case. 

It was a suit of replevin and McKinley received $25 for his work. 
He was at the time a student in the law office of Judge George W. 
Belden. He had been admitted to the bar. but having no clients, was 
still reading law in Belden's office. One day the old fudge came in 
and said to McKinley: 

"William, I want you to try the Blank case for me tomorrow. I 
find that I will not be able to attend it." 

"But. judge," said ^McKinley, "I don't know anything about it. I 
have never tried a case in my life. I am afraid I can't do it." 

"Oh, yes, you can," said the judge. "You have got to do it. I 
must go away and that case is sure to come up. Here are the papers." 
and with that the judge threw a lot of papers on the table beside Mc- 
Kinlev and left. 



Our Martyred President 215 

McKinley took up the case and went mto it. He sat up all night 
and worked at it. At 10 o'clock next day he was on hand, when the 
court opened. He took the place of Judge Belden, made an argument 
and won the case. As he was speaking he happened to look at the 
hack of the court room and there he saw Judge Belden sitting. This 
seemed rather queer to him, hut he afterward found that Belden had 
put up the job to test what he could do as a lawyer. The next day 
the judge came into the office and said to McKinley: "Well, William 
vou've won the case and here is your fee." As he said this he took 
out his pocketbook and handed ]McKinley $25. 

"But," said young McKinley, "I can't take that, judge. It was 
only a night's work. It ain't worth it and I can't take it." and with 
thai he offered the bill to the judge. 

"Oh, yes, you can," was the reply. "You have earned -the mone}^ 
and you must take it. Besides it is all right. I shall charge my client 
Sioo for the work and it is only right that you should have this $25." 
This argument overcame McKinley's scruples and he took the money. 

MADE A MINISTER OUT OF A BAD PAGE. 

When Mr. McKinley was a congressman there was among the pages 
in the house of representatives one boy wdio was considered to be a most 
incorrigible lad. And he was. at the same time, very bright. His mind 
occupied itself in plotting mischief, wdiich he carried out with spirit. 
He was impertinent to a degree: he swore with a fluency never heard 
before and his battles with his companions were of daily occurrence. 
He was attractive — so attractive that his influence with the other boys 
was \ery great. There was danger that the whole company of boys 
would become demoralized, and the only remedy seemed to lie in dis 
missal. He had often been reprimanded, so when he was called before 
the authorities and informed of his dismissal he was stunned. 

Mr. ]\IcKinley had liked the boy in spite of the fact that he seemed 
to be a little degenerate, and when he learned that the lad had been 
discharged he sent for him. After a long talk the future President 
begged that the Iwy be given another chance, and, much subdued, 
the page again took his place in the house. This was the beginning 
of the little drama of reformation. The boy was not all bad. He 
was grateful and Mr. IMcKinley made his good behavior a personal 
favor to himself. At first the boy tried to do well because it pleased 
Mr. McKinley, and then, because he was possessed of a strength thai 
would not lead him to do anything by halves, he became as enthusiastic 
for good as he had been for e\-il. Time went on. and through Mr. 
McKinley's influence, he joined the church and. later still, with the 



2i6 Life of William McKinley 

encouragement of his friend, he stucHed for the ministry. He is no\\ 
a clergyman, doing splendid work in the far west. He was made a 
minister by the President of the United States. 

HIS POPULARITY WITH THE NEW^SBOYS. 

While governor of Ohio, Mr. McKinley walked to and from the 
statehouse daily. These trips were watched for by the newsboys of 
Columbus, to whom they meant a golden harvest. No matter what 
the paper or its politics, the governor made an invariable practice of 
purchasing a supply from each and every newsboy who cropped up 
in his path or besieged him as he walked up and down the statehouse 
steps. 

One very stormy day the governor emerged from the statehouse 
on his homeward trip, accompanied by a friend, wdio urged, in view 
of the storm and sleet, that the governor get home quickly and avoid 
the newsboys. 

"No!" said the governor, "this stormy day they need me to buy 
their papers more than any other time. Another thing is, they will 
look for me, and I do not mean to disappoint them." 

This was his method of distributing help to the boys willing to 
work for their living and who would not have liked the idea of re- 
ceiving charity. 

DUTY TO COUNTRY ABOVE SELF. 

After the destruction of the United States battleship Maine, in 
Havana harbor, almost every prominent leader in the Republican party, 
almost every Republican member of Congress, almost every newspaper 
was crowding President McKinley to take radical action upon the Cuban 
question. His message proposing armed intevention was written, sub- 
mitted to the cabinet and approved. It was all ready to send to an 
impatient congress, which had given notice through its committees that 
unless the President did something before a certain date the independ- 
ence of Cuba would be recognized and Avar declared. While the cabinet 
was in session. Assistant Secretary Day entered with a cablegram from 
Consul-General Lee advising the department of state that it would be 
impossible for all the United States consuls to leave Cuba within less 
than ten days, and asking that if radical measures were taken, the con- 
suls in Cuba might be assassinated or the consulates mobbed. When 
the President read that dispatch, he turned to his cabinet and said 
calmly : 

"Well, we must hold up this message until all our people are out of 
Cuba." 

"Impossible!" exclaimed two or three of his advisers in unison. 



Our Martyred President 217 

Congress will not permit twenty-four hours' delay. It will be impos- 
sible to restrain them. If you withhold that message any longer, Mr. 
President, you will be politically ruined," said one of them. 

The President looked down at the table for a moment, thoughtfully, 
then, raising his eyes with a determined expression, remarked : 

"The important question is not how a postponement will affect me, 
but how it wnll affect those consuls in Cuba. We have already lost 
enough lives. I shall hold the message." 

THE PRESIDENT COULD AFFORD TO KEEP A COW. 

Just after President McKinley's inauguration he had his relatives 
who were in the city, at a family dinner at the White House. It was a 
large company and a good dinner. Dear old Mother AIcKinley was 
there, but she was not very talkative. . She was too happy for words. 
But she kept a sharp eye on the dinner, and no detail of it escaped her. 
She was impressed by the quantity of cream served with the fruit and 
coffee, for she looked up at her son in her sweetly simple way and said : 

"William, you must keep a cow now." 

Some of the younger members of the family party found it difficult 
to suppress a smile, but the President, with his usual tact and gracious- 
ness, replied : 

"Yes, mother, we can afford to have a cow now, and have all the 
cream we can possibly use." 

THE president's TITLE. 

Just after election, which made Mr. McKinley President-elect, an 
old man, one of the oldest friends of the McKinley's, called at the Can- 
ton home. 

"Why, how do you do. Uncle John?" cordially exclaimed the Presi- 
dent-elect to the farmer. 

The farmer's face flushed as he replied, "Neighbor, 'taint all right 
to call you neighbor any more, and I want to know just how to speak to 
you. You used to be just ]\Iajor McKinley, and then you was Lawyer 
McKinley, and then after a bit you was Congressman McKinley, and 
then you got to be Governor McKinley, but you ain't President yet." 

The President-elect laughed heartily at the perplexit}' of his constit- 
uent, and answered : 

"John, I won't have a friend of mine, such as you are, address me 
by any prouder title than that of major. That rank belongs to me. I 
ani not governor any more, and I am not President yet. So you just 
call me plain major, which T like to be to all my friends." 



21 8 Life of William McKinley 

THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE COUNTRY. 

Many people wonder how the President got through the amount of 
work required of him daily, and how he stood the strain. Perhaps as 
close view of him in his official life as could be presented, is found in 
this estimate given in 1898 by one of his closest friends. Senator Ed- 
ward Wolcott, of Colorado: 

"The President is, without exception, the kindest-hearted man thai 
I liave ever met. He is so good and kind in his nature that he is grow- 
ing younger every day. His only worry is that when night comes he 
thinks of the activities of the busy day, and wonders if he has not failed 
to see someone who wanted to see him, or failed to do something which 
someone wanted him to do. Instead of growling old in the White 
House, the wrinkles are coming out of his face. He is the happiest man 
in the country. He is full of joy because the fates have placed in his 
hands the power to do so much good, and to show so much kindness and 
generosity. You can see it in his face and feel it in the touch of his 
hand's. There is no man in this country for whom the sun shines 
brighter than for William McKinley. The work and worry that killed 
other Presidents, only warm his heart and gladden his life. Whenever 
I see the President I think there is a lesson in his life for us all : that we 
should soften our natures and strive to find pleasure in doing good, 
rather than in self-seeking." 

HIS QUIET METHOD OF DISAPPROVAL. 

Those who knew President McKinley longest say they never knew 
him to lose his temper or to scold even the worst offending servant. 
He had a quiet method of disapproval far more effective. He would 
select different people around him to do certain things for him. As, 
for instance, when some engagement called him from Washington, he 
would look around, and the man on whom his eyes happened to 'fall 
would be the man selected to arrange for the journey. To him, the 
President would say : 'T want to go to Philadelphia next Tuesday on the 
nine o'clock train: Mrs. McKinley will go with me. Will you see to 
things, please?" This meant that the President looked for every detail 
necessary to the journey to that particular man. Personally, he gave 
the matter no more thought. If, however, there was a hitch in the 
arrangements, due to the carelessness on the part of the man detailed 
to attend to the matter, the President never gave expression to a word 
of censure nor made any comment whatever. He was always careful, 
however, never again to intrust similar duties to that person. ' This was 
Mr. McKinley's invariable method of expressing his disap])roval. 



Our Martyred President 219 

THE PRESIDENT PROVES HIS METHODISM. 

President McKinley always showed the highest degree of gener- 
osity towards his poHtical opponents. While governor of Ohio, he 
was about to appoint to an exalted and lucrative office a man Avho for 
many years had been his ardent supporter, but who had deserted him 
and gone over to the enemy at a critical period. Later, when thai 
critical period had passed, the deserter slipped back into his party and 
remained unnoticed until he became a candidate for office. Many 01 
I Governor McKinley's loyal friends earnestly protested against his ap- 
pointment. They argued that the man had been a traitor when he was 
most needed, and that he was not entitled to consideration. 

The governor's face lighted up with a smile, and he remarked ; 
"Gentlemen, you seem to forget that T am a Methodist, and believe in 
the doctrine of falling from grace. "" 

PLACES FLOWERS IN THE HANDS OF TOIL. 

One morning a delegation composed of the officers of the several 
great labor organizations, called at the White House to ask a favor 
which the President could not grant. He listened attentively to the 
presentation of their case and then, expressing his regret that he could 
not oblige them, explained at length the reason why. They thanked 
him for his candor, and were bidding him good morning, when he took 
a carnation from his button-hole and pinned in on the lapel of the coat 
of the leader of the party. Then, taking the cluster of carnations on 
his desk, he distributed them among the others, saying : 

"Please give these to your wives, or to your sweethearts if you are 
not married, with my compliments." 

His visitors were horny-handed sons of toil, unaccustomed to giving 
and receiving nosegays, but they were touched by the delicate little 
compliment, and before they left the White House the i^owers so 
graciously given were carefully stowed away in their handkerchiefs. 

A page's SYMPATHY WINS HIM FAVOR. 

Many years ago when Mr. McKinley was in the house of repre- 
sentatives, there was one page wdio ahvays waited on him. When Mr. 
McKinley was unseated in 1890, by Mr. Warwick, it became necessary 
to move his papers and books and the flowers that had been sent to him. 
from his desk in the house of representatives to the hotel wdiere he was 
stopping. He asked the page to attend to the matter. 

The boy secured a carriage, paid a dollar to the driver, and carried 
the things to the room of the ex-congressman. Mr. McKinley thanked 
him heartily, and put five dollars in his hand when he said good-by. 



220 Life of William McKinley 

The page shrank back. With his hands behind him, he said : "Oh, no, 
Mr. McKinley, I could not take money from you now." 

Mr. McKjnley looked at the boy kindly, and as he shook his hand 
said : "I understand you, and I want you to know that I appreciate 
your sympathy. I shall not forget it. Perhaps some day I shall be able 
to show you that." 

Years after, a young man called at the White House, and as he gave 
his name to the President, he modestly added : "I used to be your 
page." 

"I remember you very well," replied the President, "and I have not 
forgotten one very kind act of yours." 

He was not an office seeker, but merely called to pay his respects. 
Before the week was over, however, the former page was appointed to 
a responsible office in the District. 

SERVICE TO A POLITICAL OPPONENT. 

McKinley's name has been the synonym for the policy of protection 
to American industries. One story told of McKinley as chairman of 
the committee on ways and means, illustrates how he looked upon this 
question, not as a political issue, but one of national import, important 
for all the people. 

A manufacturer, who was a democrat, went to McKinley's rooms at 
the Ebbitt house, in Washington, one evening, and said to him : "Mr. 
McKinley, I have been to my member, who is a democrat like myself, 
to have him help me to get a hearing before your committee. I have 
been to my senator, who is a democrat, and I ha\e been to others, and 
they all failed me. Now, I have come to you. I have no claim on you, 
but I want to ask the privilege of representing ni}^ case." 

McKinley sat wdth the man until after midnight, listened to his 
presentation, searched the records, went over the tariff schedules and at 
last said to the manufacturer, who was an entire stranger to him : 
"Your claim is just. I thank you for bringing it to me. We should 
have made a mistake had we left the schedule as it is. I will see that it 
is changed." The story illustrates that Major McKinley's devotion to 
the policy of protection was not because it was a republican doctrine, 
hut because for more than twenty-five years he believed it to be the most 
important question to the American people. 

m'kinley's courtship, 

Mrs. McKinley was the first child of James and Mary Saxton, of 
Canton. As a child and young woman, she was vivacious, and had 
friends among all classes. She had then the happy faculty of becoming 



Our Martyred President 221 

endeared to those who knew her — a trait which is hers still. Her edu- 
cation was obtained in the public schools of Canton, at a school in 
Cleveland, and later at Brook Hall seminary, Media, Pa., then under 
the charge of Miss Eastman, who was a well-known educator of that 
time. Here, Mrs. McKinley, then Ida Saxfon, spent three years. 
After this, she spent six months with a party of friends visiting points 
of interest in Europe. 

When she returned to Canton, a young woman, handsome and re- 
fined, a career of belleship was open to her. She added to her charming 
manners a dash of coquetry, just enough to make the young men eager 
to be a friend of the worthy young woman. 

Her father was a man of staid character and pronounced opinions. 
He was then a banker, and he concluded to give his daughter such a 
training as would fit her to cope with all the duties of woman, new or 
old. Accordingly, Miss Ida was installed as assistant in the bank, and 
there is a common saying here that her fair face attracted bouquets and 
bank-notes to the window. "She must be trained," said her father, 
"to buy her own bread if necessary, and not to sell herself to matri- 
mony." 

]\Ir. Saxton had married happily, and he jealously guarded his 
daughter. His placing her in the bank was a master-stroke. She 
was having business to think about, and was fitting herself for the trials 
of life and adversity if they should come. 

Of suitors. Miss Ida Saxton had many. There were among them 
the best in point of position and wealth the country knew. When Miss 
Sa.xton returned from her foreign tour, Major McKinley was fairly 
started in his legal career. His honest face and manly bearing van- 
quished all rivals, removed the young woman from the cashier's win- 
dow, and won from honest James Saxton these words when the hand 
of his daughter was gained : 

"You are the only man I have ever known to whom I would entrust 
my daughter." 

THE OFT-REPEATED S.\LUTE. 

In Columbus, Ohio, the people who happened to be about the capital 
grounds or on High street in the morning or afternoon, and saw Gov- 
ernor McKinley go back and forth between the capital and the old Neil 
house, noticed that he always paused on the steps of the state house 
before entering, turned and lifted his hat to a certain window in tlie 
hotel directly opposite. Men and women who saw this silent salute 
watched for it day after day, morning and evening, and never saw the 
governor enter the capitol without giving it. There was no occasion 
f' r inquirv or comment. Everyone in the city knew that Mrs. 



222 Lite ot VVilliain iVlcKinley 

McKiiiley was an invalid, and that the window was hers, it they 
glanced up at the window, they saw a beautiful face brighten with a 
smile as she saw the silk hat lifted at the entrance to the capitol. 

This salute told the story of Governor McKinley's home-life and it^ 
romance, better than could any biographer or poet or writer of fiction. 
It fitted exactly into the governor's remark : "Oh, we are just old mar- 
ried lovers." 

THE president's devotion to his mother. 

The most beautiful traits in the character of President McKinley 
found their expression in the filial devotion that he always showed for 
his mother, and in the deep love and tender solicitude for his invalid 
wife. 

Inuring the Hfetime of his mother, no twenty-four hours were al- 
lowed to ])ass without some communication passing between her and her 
son. If he were at his home in Canton, Ohio, his daily call at jMothcr 
McKinley's little cottage w^as as certain as the dawn of day. Sickness 
alone pre\'ented it, and then some message, written or verbal, would 
take its ])lace. During the entire brief term of his governorship of 
Ohio, he sent a letter, no matter how brief, to his mother every day. 
Sometimes, when under some tremendous pressure of W'Ork, the daily 
message would take the form of a telegram, but this resort he avoided as 
much as possible. At one time, during a serious disturbance in Ohio, 
when the troops had been called out to prevent an anticipated lynching, 
(jovernor McKinley, for a period of ten days, scarcely slept. Yet, every 
night, the very last thing before he allowed himself to snatch the briefest 
rest, he wrote a little note to his mother, knowing her great anxiety. 

When, after the inauguration of her son as President, Mother 
McKinley returned to Canton, the daily letters were resumed. Every 
day there came to the Canton postoffice the little White House envelope, 
bearing some tender message from her "William at Washington" to his 
mother. "W^illiam at Washington" was always the way that she re- 
ferred to her President-son. 

HIS tender solicitude for his wife. 

The President's tender solicitude for his w^ife was not less than 
was his beautiful devotion to his mother. The husband knew how his 
invalid wife suffered at times, and his watchful eye scarcely ever left 
her. Whenever it was at all possible for her to accompany him on some 
journey, he made it a personal matter that she should go. At all din- 
ners, even the most formal state affairs, the regulation etiquette was set 
aside, and Mrs. McKinley always sat, not opposite to him at the other 
end or side of the table, as official custom demanded, but at the Presi- 



Our Martyred President 223 

dent's side, so that he might be close to her. This rule was never de- 
parted from, and the deviation from the usual custom was accepted by 
everybody. When Mrs. ^IcKinley was upstairs in the White House, 
and not feeling very well, it was not unusual for the President to excuse 
himself from some conference, or to callers, and run quickly up-stairs 
10 spend a moment with his wife. Pie had been known to do this as 
often as twelve times a day. His tender care of her when traveling 
won for him the deepest reverence and admiration of all who happened 
to be near the devoted husband and wife. \\'hen affairs of state were 
urgent, the President invariably shielded his wife from the unfavorable 
side, always presenting to her the most cheerful and brightest view of 
any question at issue. Again and again during the tenancy of the 
\Miite House the President himself, in addition to all his other duties, 
directed so far as he could, the domestic machinery of the executi\e 
mansion, in order to save his wife from the worry of household cares. 
Mo two people could be closer in understanding and in more perfect 
sympathy than were President McKinley and his wife. In every por- 
trait she had taken, she invariably insisted that the President should be 
included, or that a portrait of him should hang on the wall behind her 
or stand on a table at her side. 

ONE D.\Y AT A TIME. 

During the Peace Jubilee in Chicago, President McKinley was 
present at the great religious services in the Auditorium on Sunday 
afternoon for the children, and in the evening for adults, presided over 
by the chairman of the committee. Bishop Samuel Fallows. At the 
close of the afternoon exercises he accepted an invitation to address 
the colored people in Quinn Chapel, and invited Bishop B. W. Arnett, 
D. D., of the African ^Methodist Episcopal Church, and Bishop Fal- 
lows to accompany him. As they were riding together Bishop Arnett 
said : "Mr. President, your duties during the Spanish-American war 
were so numerous and burdensome that you must have been often 
unable to sleep when night came." 

The president turned to Bishop Fallows and said : "Bishop, do yo'i 
try to get out two sermons at the same time?" The bishop responded : 
"No, Mr. President, one sermon is all I can manage at once." Mr. 
McKinley then said : "No matter how long or how short my day may 
be, I am through with its cares when night comes. I leave the results 
with divine providence and do not attempt to do tomorrow's work in 
the day T have ended." 

DWELLIXG TOGETHER IN UNITY. 

During the same carriage ride. Bishop Arnett said to Mr. McKinley: 



224 O^r Martyred President 

"Air. President, there are at least three bishops who are thoroughly 
united in love for you and in their support of your administration. One 
is Archbishop Ireland, another is Bishop Fallows here, and another is 
myself." 

An acknowledging smile was on the president's face as the words of 
scripture occurred to him, "Behold how good and how pleasant a thing 
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." 

BELOVED BY HIS CABINET AND DESIROUS OF DOING WHAT IS RIGHT. 

At the laying of the corner stone of the new government building 
in Chicago, Mr. McKinley and several members of his cabinet were 
present and participated in the exercises. At an informal reception 
given them all at the Chicago Athletic Club one of the members of the 
cabinet said to Bishop Fallows: "Every member of the president's 
official household sincerely love their chief. They love him for his 
sterling personal qualities and for the high sense of honor he always 
manifests in dealing with questions of state. No matter though the 
question for consideration is upon some minor subject he is accustomed 
to say : "Let us do the thing that is right in this matter." 

FAITHFUL IN ATTENDANCE UPON CHURCH. 

The Rev. Dr. Chase, pastor of the Centenary Methodist Church in 
Chicago, was visiting the Rev. Frank Bristol in Washington. Before 
the services on Sunday morning Chase said : "Do you think the presi- 
dent will be present today?" "Yes," replied Dr. Bristol in the ener- 
getic manner characteristic of this eminent young divine. "I always 
count on the president's being present, rain or shine, unless some unex- 
pected emergency arises to prevent his coming, such as a meeting with 
his cabinet or attendance upon Mrs. McKinley in her illness." 

TRIBUTE OF AN OLD SOLDIER. 

Tributes of old soldiers and personal friends expressed not only the 
love of those who gave them, but they manifested the tenderness of him 
whose departure they mourned. While the body of the president was 
lying in state in Canton an aged man leaning upon two crutches, which 
he managed with difficulty, appeared at the door through which the 
people were making their exit. He asked the sentry to allow him to 
enter and, when the soldier refused, saying he had received orders to 
allow nobody through that door, the old man stood back the picture of 
woe. In a short time he again asked the young sentry in pleading tones 
to allow him entrance through the doorway, saying that in his feeble con- 
dition he was not able to stand in the line, which at that time was extend- 
ing fully a mile from the entrance. "I foug-ht in his regiment during the 
war," he said, "and I just want to lay this flag on his coffin and then 




RT. REV. BISHOP SAMUEL FALLOWS, D.D., LL. D. 



Life of William McKinley 225 

keep it as a reminder of the time I saw him last." "Take it in," said the 
sentry, and the veteran hobbled inro the hall. When he got inside he 
had more trouble and was compelled to explain his errand several times. 
Finally the line passing the coflin was stopped long enough to allow the 
old man to step to its side for a glance into the coffin, and to lay his tiny 
flag on its glass front. Then he turned back with the crowd, hugging 
the now sanctified flag tightly beneath his coat. 

Among those in the line was an old farmer from the lower end of 
Stark county. He paused beside the casket and burst into tears. "His 
kindness and his counsel saved a boy of mine," the old man murmured, 
half in apology, to the guards as he tottered out of the building. Old 
soldiers who had served with the "major," as they called him, stumped 
by with limping feet on wooden legs and on crutches. Poor men and 
poor women whom he had helped when they needed help and without 
anybody being the wiser, dropped flowers on the pall. One old soldier 
broke through the second time for another look. "I went to the war with 
him," the old man said, "and I would not have come back but for him. 
He saw that I wasn't forgotten in the hospital." 

DEVOTION TO CHILDREN. 

No man was ever more devoted to children than Mr, McKinley, or 
had a more winning manner with them. An illustration of his kindness 
occurred during the president's transcontinental tour. The train stopped 
for a few minutes at a little town on the desert. Among those who 
were at the station to see the president's train go by were two little girls, 
one of whom had a kodak. The president stepped oflf the train and was 
about to walk along the platform when one of the girls, unabashed as 
older persons are in the presence of the great, asked him if she might take 
his picture. The president smilingly consented, and stood patiently while 
the child adjusted her kodak to the correct focus and took the picture. 
Thousands of children had been the recipients of similar acts of kind- 
ness, and these were represented in spirit by a little girl of Canton while 
the body was lying in state. She stopped long enough to press a kiss 
upon the glass over the dead face and then ran from the building with 
streaming eyes. One of the guards thought he saw her drop something 
and looked. He found a little cluster of common, late-bloomine earden 
flowers, and to it was tied with a piece of thread a note written in a 
cramped, childish hand : 

Dear Mr. McKinley : I wish I could send you some prettier flow- 
ers, but these are all I have. I am sorry you got shot. Katie Lee. 

The guard picked up the modest little bunch of flowers and tenderly 
laid it across a cluster of orchids. "I thought I saw the president smile," 
he said to a comrade. 



226 Life of William McKinley 

CLOSING INCIDENTS OF m'kINLEY's LIFE. 

When the President repeated the words, "Nearer my God to thee, 
nearer to thee; e'en though it be a cross that raiseth me," he said: "It 
has been my constant prayer, my Hfe-long prayer." 

When, in the last moments, Mrs. McKinley said to him: "I want 
to go with you," he replied, "We are all going, my dear." 

While his hand was laid upon the shoulder of Mrs. McKinley, one 
of her dearest friends entered the room. With unfailing courtesy he 
turned its palm so that it could be grasped by this friend. It was 
already turning cold in death, and while no words could escape his lips, 
the smile of loving recognition came to his face. 

He said to one of the nurses who waited upon him : "Have you been 
to the exposition?" She answered, "No, Mr. President." "Why, where 
did you come from?" he said with a playful movement of the lips. 
"From Baltimore," she said. "Oh, were you the nurse that attended 
Mrs. Gage?" he asked. "Yes," she replied. "Then I am very glad in- 
deed to have you wait upon me." "And I am very glad indeed," she 
answered, "to wait upon you, Mr. President." 

An intimate friend was permitted to look over the little work en- 
titled "Daily Strength for Daily Need," out of which he daily read to 
Mrs. McKinley. In it she found many passages marked, but one was 
particularly noted : 

"So near is grandeur to our dust, 

So near is God to man 
When Duty whispers low, T must,' 
Then Youth replies T can.' " 

In the early part of the President's struggle for life he would say 
to the nurses and physicians, after his wound had been attended to : "Let 
us have prayer." Then, kneeling, they would repeat with him the Lord's 
Prayer. 

TRUE TO HIS COLORED FRIENDS. 

When President McKinley appointed the late ex-Senator Bruce to the 
position of register of the treasury, considerable surprise was felt that he 
should select a colored man to fill so important a position. One day a 
friend asked him what were his reasons for appointing Bruce. 

"I have two," replied the President. "The first is the man's fitness 
for the position. The second is that Bruce's name will appear on every 
bank bill that will be issued by the government while he is in office, and 
every colored man who gets one of the notes can read on it the name of 
a man of his own race, and see in it the lesson that, vnth economy, indus- 
try, honesty and ambition, this government will recognize him the same 
as it does men of a lighter color of skin." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Chronological Record of the Life of President William 

McKinley. 

1843. Jan. 29. William AIcKinley, son of William and Nancy (Al- 
lison) iVIcKinley, is born at Niles, Trumbull county, O., being the seventh 
of a family of nine children. 

1852. The AIcKinley family removes to Poland, Mahoning- county, 
O., where William studies at the Union seminary until he is 17. 

1859. Becomes a member of the Methodist Episcopal church in 
Poland. 

i860. Enters the junior class in .Vllegheny college, ]\Ieadville, Pa., 
but poor health prevents the completion of the course. Subsequently 
teaches in a public school near Poland and later becomes a clerk in 
the Poland postoflice. 

1861. June II. Enlists as a private in Company E, of the Twenty- 
third Ohio volunteer infantry. 

1862. April 15. Promoted to commissary sergeant while in the win- 
ter's camp at Fayette, W. Va. 

1862. Sept. 24. Promoted to second lieutenant, in recognition of 
services at the battle of Antietam. Wins the highest esteem of the 
colonel of the regiment, Rutherford B. Hayes, and becomes a member 
of his staff. 

1863. Feb. 7. Promoted to first lieutenant. 

1864. July 25. Promoted to captain for gallantry at the battle of 
Kernstown, near Winchester, Va. 

1864. Oct. II. First vote for president cast, while on a march, for 
Abraham Lincoln. 

^ 1864. Shortly after the battle of Cedar Creek (October 19), Captain" 
^.'IcKinley serves on the staffs of General George Crook and General 
Winfield S. Hancock. 

1865. Assigned as acting assistant adjutant general on the staff 
of General Samuel S. Carroll, commanding the veteran reserve corps 
at Washington. 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN BREVETS HIM. 

1865. March 13. Commissioned by President Lincoln as major bv 

327 •' ^ 



228 Life of William McKinley 

brevet in the volunteer United States army, ''for gallant and merito- 
rious service at the battles of Opequan, Cedar Creek and Fisher's Hill." 
1865. July 26. Mustered out of the army with his regiment, having 
never been absent from his command on sick leave during more than 
four }'ears' service. 

1865. Returns to Poland and at once begins the study of law. 

1866. Enters the Albany ( N. Y. ) law school. 

1867. Admitted to the bar at \\'arren, O., in March. Accepting 
the advice of an elder sister teaching in Canton, O., he begins the 
practice of law in Canton and makes that place his home. 

HIS FlIiST OFFICE. 

1869. Elected prosecuting attorney of Stark county on the repub- 
lican ticket, although the county had usually been democratic. 

1871. Jan. 25. Marries Miss Ida Saxton, of Canton. (Two daugh- 
ters born to .Mr. and Mrs. McKinley— Katie in 1871 and Ida in 1873— 
and both lost in early childhood). 

1 87 1. Fails of re-election as prosecuting attorney l)y forty-five votes, 
and for the next live years devotes himself successfully to the practice 
of law, and becomes a leading member of the bar of Stark county. 

1872. Though not a candidate, very active as a campaign speaker 
in the Grant-Creeley presidential cami)aign. 

1 875. Especially active and conspicuous as a campaigner in the closely 
contested state election in which Rutherford B. Hayes is elected governor. 

ELECTED TO CONGRESS. 

1876. Elected member of the house of representatives by 3.300 ma- 
jority, his friend Hayes being elected to the presidency. 

1878. Re-elected to congress l)y 1,234 majoritv, his district in Ohio 
having been gerrymandered to his disadvantage by a democratic leo-is- 
lature. ^ 

1880. Re-elected to congress by 3.571 majc^rity. Appointed a mem- 
ber of the ways and means committee, to succeed President-elect Garfield. 

1882. The republicans sufifer reverses throughout the country in 
the congressional election and McKinlcv is re-elected by a maioritv ' 
of only 8. " ^ J . 

1884. Prominent in opposition to the proposed ''Morrison tariff" in 
congress. 

1884. As a delegate-at-large to the republican national convention 
m Chicago actively supports James G. Blaine for the presidential nom- 
ination. 



Our Martyred President 229 

1884. Re-elected to congress by a majority of 2,000, although his 
district had again been gerrymandered against him. 

1886. Re-elected to congress by a majority of 2,550. 

1886. Leads the minority opposition in congress against the ''Mills 
tariff bill." 

1 888. Delegate-at-large to the national convention in Chicago that 
nominated Benjamin Harrison, and serves as chairman of the com- 
mittee on resolutions. Many delegates wisli ^IcKinley to become a 
nominee, but he stands firm in his support of John Sherman. 

1888. Elected to congress for the seventh successive time, receiving 
a majority of 4,100 votes. 

1889. At the organization of the Fifty-first congress, is a candidate 
for speaker of the house, but is defeated on the third ballot in the Re- 
publican caucus by Thomas B. Reed. 

1890. Upon the death of William D. Kelley in January McKinley 
becomes chairman of the ways and means committee and leader of his 
])arty in the house. He introduces a bill "to simplify the laws in rela- 
tion to the collection of revenues," known as the "customs administra- 
tion bill." He also introduces a general tariff bill. The bill becomes 
a law October 6. 

1890. .Vs a result of the gerrymandered congressional district and 
the reaction against the republican party throughout the country, caused 
by the protracted struggle over the tariff bill, McKinley is defeated in 
the election for congress by 300 votes in counties that had previously 
gone democratic by 3.000. 

GOVERNOR OF OHIO. 

1891. Nov. 3. Elected governor of Ohio by a plurality of 21,511, 
polling the largest vote that had ever been cast for governor in Ohio. His 
opponent is the democratic governor, James E. Campbell. 

1892. As delegate-at-large to the national convention at ]\Iinne- 
apolis and chairman of the convention, McKinley refuses to permit the 
consideration of his name and supports the renomination of President 
Harrison. The roll call results as follows: Harrison 535, Blaine 182, 
McKinley 182, Reed 4, Lincoln i, 

1892. Death of William ]\IcKinley, Sr., in November. 

1893. Unanimously renominated for governor of Ohio and re-elected 
by a plurality of 80,995. this majority being the greatest ever recorded, 
with a single exception during the civil war, for any candidate in the his- 
tory of the state. 

1896. June 18. At the Republican national convention in St. Louis 
is nnminatcd for president on the first ballot, the result of the voting 



230 Life of William McKinley 

beino^.as follows: McKinley 661 X,, Reed 84/2, Quay 6o>^, Morton 
58, .Allison 35J/<, Cameron i. 

IS ELECTED PRESIDENT, 

1896. Nov. 3. Receives a popular vote in the presidential election 
of 7,104,779, a plurality of 601,854 over his democratic opponent, Wil- 
liam J. Bryan. In the electoral college later McKinley receives 271 votes, 
against 176 for Bryan. 

1897. March 4. Inaugurated President of the United States for the 
twenty-eighth quadrennial term. 

1897. March 6. Issues proclamation for an extra session of con- 
gress to assemble March 15. The president's message dwells solely u])on 
the need of a revision of the existing tariff law. 

1897. May 17. In response to an appeal from tlie President con- 
gress, appropriates $50,000 for the relief of the destitution in Cuba. 

1897. July 24. The "Dingley tariff bill" receives the president's ap- 
proval. 

1897. Dec. 12. Death of President T^IcKinlcy's mother at Canton, O. 

1898. Both branches of congress vote unanimously (the house on 
March 8 by a vote of 313 to o and the senate by a vote of 76 to o on the 
following day) to place $50,000,000 at the disposal of the jiresident to 
be used at his discretion "for the national defense." 

1898. March 23. The president sends to the Spanish government 
through Minister Woodford at Madrid, an ultimatum regarding the in- 
tolerable condition of affairs in Cuba. 

1898. ]\Iarch 28. Tlie report of the court of inquiry on the destruc- 
tion of the Maine at Havana, on February 15, is transmitted l)y the ])rcsi- 
dent to congress. 

1898. April II. The president sends a message to congress out- 
lining the situation, declaring that intervention is necessary and advising 
against the recognition of the Cuban go^'ernment. 

1898. yVpril 21. The Spanish government sends Minister Woodford 
his passports, thus beginning the war. 

1898. April 23. The president issues a call for 125,000 volunteers. 

1S98. April 24. Spain formally declares that war exists witli the 
United States. 

RECOMMENDS DECLARATION OF WAR. 

1898. April 25. The President sends message to congress recom- 
mending the passage of a joint resolution declaring that war exists with 
Spain. On the same day both branches of congress passed such a 
resolution. 

1898. May 25. The President issues a call for 75,000 additional 
volunteers. 



Our Martyred President 231 

189S. June 2Q. Yale university confers upon President McKinley 
the degree of LL. D. 

1898. July 7. Joint resolution. of congress providing for the annexa- 
tion of Hawaii receives the approval of the president. 

1898. .Vug. 9. Spain formally accepts the president's terms of peace. 

1898. Aug. 12. The peace protocol is signed. An armistice is pro- 
claimed and the Cuban blockade raised. 

1898. Oct, 17. The president receives the degree of LL. D. from 
the University of Chicago. 

1898. Dec. 10. The treaty of peace between Spain and the United 
States is signed at Paris. 

1900. Mafch 14. The President signs the "gold standard act." 

RENOMIN.VTED FOR PRESIDENCY. 

1900. June 21. The Republican national convention at Philadelphia 
unanimously renominates William McKinley for the presidency. 

1900. June 21. The president's amnesty proclamation to the Filipinos 
is published in Manila. 

1900. July 10. The United States government makes public a state- 
ment of its policy as to affairs in China. 

1900. Sept. 10. Letter accepting the presidential nomination and dis- 
cussing the issues of the campaign is given to the public. 

1900. Nov. 6. In the presidential election William McKinley carries 
twenty-eight states, which have an aggregate of 292 votes in tlie electoral 
college, his democratic opponent, \\'illiam J. Bryan, carrying seventeen 
states, having 155 electoral votes. His ])opular plurality is also larger 
than in the election cf 1896. 

1 90 1. March 4. Inaugurated president. Shot by Czolsgosz Septem- 
ber 6. at Buffalo. N. Y. Dies September 14 at Buffalo. Buried at Can- 
ton, O., September 19. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Masterpieces of William McKinley's Eloquence. 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

"Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Michigan Republican Ckib. 

"It gives nie sincere pleasure to meet with you to-night. 1 have 
not met with the Republicans of Michigan since the great victory of 
1894 — the great national victory — and 1 bring to you my congratula- 
tions upon the proud part you bore in that great conflict resulting 
so triumphantly for Republican principles, and, as 1 believe, for the 
best interests of the whole country. I cannot believe that our prin- 
ciples are less dear to us in their triumph than they were in their tem- 
porary defeat. I cannot believe that the [)rinciples which won a most 
unprecedented victory from ocean to ocean require now either modi- 
fication or abandonment. They are dearer and closer to the Amer- 
ican heart than they have ever been in the past, notwithstanding the 
magnificent victory of 1894, and notwithstanding these great principles 
are cherished in the hearts of tlie American people, there is still a 
greater and more significant battle to be fought in the near future, 
before we can realize those principles in administration and legislation. 

"While, in the situation of the country, there is no cause for con- 
gratulation, this is not the time to employ terms of distrust or aggra- 
vation. Times are bad enough, and the voice of encouragement is 
more appropriate than that of alarm and exaggeration. The realities 
are quite ugly enough, and it is the duty of each of us, by w^ord and 
act, insofar as it can be done, to improve the present condition. But 
above all, we must not disparage our government. We must up- 
hold it, and uphold it at all times and under all circumstances, not- 
withstanding that w^e may not be able to support the measures and pol- 
icies of the present administration. Home prosperity is the only key 
to an easy treasury and a high credit. The Republican party never 
low^ered the flag or the credit of the government, but has exalted 
both. I agree with the president, in his recent message, that a pre- 
dicament confronts us. When I was here six years ago, reading 

232 



Our Martyred President 233 

from his message, it was a condition that confronted us, and that con- 
dition was an oversowing treasury, under RepubUcan legislation. Now 
I come back to you, and it is a predicament that confronts the people 
of the United States, because of a deficiency created by the legislation 
of a Democratic congress and administration. 

"I am sure, however, that there is wisdom and patriotism ample 
enough in the country to relieve ourselves from this or any other 
predicament, and to place us once more at the head of the nations of 
the world in credit, production and prosperity. The Republican party 
needs but to adhere faithfully to its principles — to the principles enun- 
ciated bv its great national conventions, which guided the republic 
for a third of a century in safety and honor, which gave the country 
an adcvjuate revenue, and, while doing that, labor received comfort- 
able wages and steady employment, which guarded pv ery Anip.rir..T n 
interest at hom.e ^ru\ ^r^n^^^_Jw\{\] yenloug; rare — prinr;ip1es-_tlia.-afip1i- 
cation of which made us a nation of homes.,, of, .indep.endent, prosper- 
ous freemen, where all had a fair chance and an equal^ opportunity in 
the race"o£_ljfe. You do not have to guess what the Republican party 
will do. The whole world knows its purposes. It has embodied them 
in law, and executed them in administration.- It has bravely met every 
emergency, and has ever measured up to every new duty. It is dedi- 
cated to the people ; it stands for the United States. It practices what 
it preaches, and fearlessly enforces what it teaches. Its simple code 
is home and country. Its central idea is the well-being of the people, 
and all the people. It has no arm which does not take into account the 
honor of the government, and the material advancement and happi- 
ness of the American people. The Republican party is neither an 
apology nor a reminiscence. It is proud of its past, and it sees greater 
usefulness in the future." — Michigan Club, Feb. 22, iSpj. 

THE m'kINLEY tariff OF 189O. 

*T do not intend to enter upon any extended discussion of the 
two economic systems which divide parties in this house and the peo- 
ple throughout the country. For two years we have been occupied 
in both branches of congress and in our discussions before the people 
with these contending theories of taxation. 

"At the first session of the Fiftieth congress the house spent sev- 
eral weeks in an elaborate and exhaustive discussion of these systems. 
The senate was for as many weeks engaged in their investigation and 
in debate upon them, while in the political contest of 1888 the tariff 
in all its phases was the absorbing question, made so by the political 
platforms of the respective parties, to the exclusion, practically, of 



234 Life of William McKinley 

every other subject of party division. It may be said that, froni the 
December session of 18CS7-1888 to March 4, 1889, no pubHc question 
ever received, in congress and out, such scrutinizing investigation as 
that of the tariff. It has, therefore, seemed to me that any lengthy 
general discussion of these principles at this time, so soon after their 
thorough consideration and determination by the people, is neither ex- 
pected, required, nor necessary. 

"If any one thing was settled by the election of 1S88, it was that 
the protective policy, as promulgated in the Republican platform and 
heretofore inaugurated and maintained by the Republican party, should 
be secured in any fiscal legislation to be had by the congress chosen 
in that great contest and upon that mastering issue. I have interpreted 
that victory to mean, and the majority in this house and in the senate 
to mean, that a revision of the tariff is not only demanded by the votes 
of the people, but that such revision should be on the line and in full 
recognition of the principle and purpose of protection. The people 
have spoken ; they want their will registered and their decree embodied 
in public legislation. The bill which the committee on ways and means 
has presented is their answer and interpretation of that victory and in 
accordance with its spirit and letter and purpose. We have not been 
compelled to abolish the internal revenue system that we might pre- 
serve the protective system, which we were pledged to do in the event 
that the abolition of the one was essential to the preservation of the 
other. That was unnecessary. 

"It is asserted in the views of the minority, submitted with the 
report accompanying this bill, that the operation of the bill will not 
diminish the revenues of the government ; tliat with the increased duties 
we have imposed upon foreign articles which may be sent to market 
here' we have increased taxation, and that, therefore, instead of being 
a diminution of the revenues of the go\ernment, there will be an 
increase in the sum of $50,000,000 or $60,000,000. Now, that state- 
ment is entirely misleading. It can only be accepted upon the as- 
sumption that tlie importation of the present year under this bill, if 
it becomes a law, will be equal to the importations of like articles under 
the existing lavv-; and there is not a member of the committee on ways 
and means, there is not a member of the minority of that committee, 
there is not a member of the house on either side, wlio does not know 
that the very instant that you have increased the duties to a fair pro- 
tective point, putting them above the highest revenue point, that very 
instant you diminish importations and to that extent diminish the 
revenue. Nobody can well dispute this proposition. Why, when the 
senate bill was under consideration by the committee on ways and 



Our Martyred President 235 

means, over wliich my friend from Texas presided in the last con- 
o-ress, the distinguished chairman of that committee (Mr. Mills) wrote 
a letter to Secretary Fairchild inquiring what would be the effect of in- 
creased duties proposed under the senate bill, and this is ]Mr. Fairchild's 
reply : 

" 'Where the rates upon articles successfully produced here are ma- 
terially increased, it is fair to assume that the imports of such articles 
would decrease and the revenue therefrom diminish.' 

"He further states that where the rate upon an article is so increased 
as to deprive the foreign producer of the power to compete with the 
domestic producer, the revenue from that source will cease altogether. 
Secretary Fairchild only states what has been the universal experi- 
ence in the United States wherever increase of duties above the rev- 
enue point has been made upon articles which we can produce in the 
United States. Therefore, it is safe to assume that no increase of the 
revenues, taking the bill, through, will arise from the articles upon 
which duties have been advanced. Now as to the schedules : 

"The bill recommends the retention of the present rates of duty 
on earthen and chinaware. No other industry in the United States 
either deserves or requires the fostering care of government more than 
this one. It is a business requiring technical and artistic knowledge, 
and the most careful attention to the many and delicate processes 
through which the raw material must pass to the completed product. 
For many years, down to 1683, the pottery industry of the United 
States had very little or no success, and made but slight progress in 
a practical and commercial way. At the close of the low-tariff period 
of i860, there was but one pottery in the United States, with two 
small kilns. There were no decorating kilns at the time. In 1873, 
encouraged by the tariff and the gold premium, which was an added 
protection, we had increased to twenty potteries, with sixty-eight kilns, 
but still no decorating kilns. The capital invested was $1,020,000, 
and the value of the product was $1,180,000. In 1882, there were 
fifty-five potteries, 244 kilns, twenty-six decorating kilns, with a cap- 
ital invested of $5,076,000, and an annual product of $5,299,140. The 
wages paid in the potteries in 1882 were $2,387,000, and the number 
of employes engaged therein 7,000; the ratio of wages to sales, in 1882, 
was 45 per cent. In 1889. there were eighty potteries, 401 kilns, and 
decorating kilns had increased from twenty-six in 1822, to 188 in 
1889. The capital invested in the latter year was $10,957,357, the 
value of the jiroduct was $10,389,910. amount paid in wages, $6,265,- 
224, and the number of employes engaged. 16,900. The ratio of wages 
to sales was 60 per cent of decorated ware and 50 per cent of white 



236 Life of William McKinley 

ware. The per cent of wages to value of ]:)roduct, it will be observed, 
has advanced from 45 per cent in 1882, to 60 per cent in 1889. This 
increase is not due, as might be supposed, to an advance in wages, 
but results in a reduction in the selling price of the product and the 
immense increase in sales of decorated ware in which labor enters in 
greater proportion to materials. The total importation for 1874 and 
1875 of earthenware was to the value of $4,441,216, and in 1888 and 
1889 it ran up to $6,476,190. The American ware pnxluced in 1889 
was valued at $10,389,910. The difference between the wages of 
labor in this country and competing countries in the manufacture of 
earthenware is fully 100 per cent. 

"The agricultural condition of the country has received the care- 
ful attention of the committee, and every remedy which was believed 
to be within the power of tariff legislation to give lias been granted 
by this bill. The depression in agriculture is not confined to the 
United States. The reports of the agricultural department indicate 
that this distress is general; that Great Britain, France, and Germany 
are suffering in a larger degree than the fcirmers of the United States. 
Mr. Dcdge, statistician of the department, says, in his report of March, 
1890, that the depression in agriculture in Great Britain has probably 
been more severe than that of any other nation; which would indicate 
that it is greater even in a country whose economic system differs from 
ours, and that this condition is inseparable from any fiscal system, 
and less under the protective than the revenue tariff system. 

"It has been asserted in the views of the minority that the duty 
put upon wheat and other agricultural products would be of no value 
to the agriculturists of the United States. The committee, believing 
differently, has advanced the duty upon these products. As we are 
the greatest wheat-producing country of the world, it is habitually 
asserted and believed by many that this product is safe from foreign 
competition. We do not appreciate that while the United States last 
year raised 490,000,000 bushels of wheat, France raised 316,000,000 
bushels, Italy raised 103,000.000 bushels, Russia 189,000,000 bushels 
and India 243,000,000 bushels, and that the total production of Asia, 
including Asia Minor, Persia and Syria, amounted to over 315,000,- 
000 bushels. Our sharjDest competition comes from Russia and India, 
and the increased product of other nations only serves to increase the 
world's supply, and diminish proportionately the demand for ours; and 
if vve will only reflect on the dift'erence between the cost of labor in 
producing wheat in the United States and in competing countries, we 
will readily perceive how near we are to the danger line, if indeed we 
have not quite reached it, so far even as our own markets are concerned. 



Our Martyred President 237 

"Professor Goldwin Smith, a Canadian and political economist, 
speaking of the Canadian farmers and the etfect of this bill upon their 
interests, says : 

" They will be very much injured if the McKinley bill shall be 
adopted. The agricultural schedule will bear very hardly on the Can- 
adian farmers who particularly desire to find a market in the United 
States for their eggs, their barley and their horses. The European mar- 
ket is of little value to them for their horses. If there shall be a slow 
market in England all the profits will be consumed on a cargo of horses 
and great loss will entail. I do not see how the Canadian farmers can 
export their produce to the United States if the McKinley bill shall be- 
come a law.' 

"If that be true, ^Vlr. Chairman, then the annual exports of about 
$25,000,000 in agricultural products will be supplied to the people of 
the United States by the American farmer rather than by the Canadian 
farmer; and who will say that $25,000,000 of additional demand for 
American agricultural products will not inure to the benefit of the 
American farmer; and that $25,000,000 distributed among our own 
farmers will not relieve some of the depression now prevailing, and 
give to the farmer confidence and increased ability to lift the mortgages 
from his lands? 

"The duty recommended in the bill is not alone to correct this in- 
equality, but to make the duty on foreign tin plate high enough to 
insure its manufacture in tins country to the extent of our home con- 
sumption. The only reason we are net doing it now and have not 
been able to do it in the past is because of inadequate duties. We 
ha^•e demonstrated our ability to make it here as successfully as they 
do in Wales. We have already made it here. Two factories were 
engaged in producing tin plate in the years 1873. 1874, and 1875, t>rit 
no sooner had they got fairly under way than the foreign manufacturer 
reduced his price to a ]-)(iint which made it impossible for our manu- 
facturers to continue. When our people embarked in the business 
foreign tin plate was selling for $12 per box, and to crush them out, 
before they were firmly established, the price was brought down to 
$4.50 per box; but it did not remain there. When the fires were put 
out in the American mills, and its manufacture thought by the for- 
eigners to be abandoned, the price of tin ])late advanced, until in 1879 
it was selling for S9 and $10 a box. Our people again tried it, and 
again prices were depressed, and again our people abandoned tem- 
porarily the enterprise, and, as a gentleman stated before the com- 
mittee, twice thev have lost their whole investment through the com- 
bination of the foreign manufacturers in striking down the prices, not 



238 Life of William McKinley 

for the benefit of the consumer, but to drive our manufacturer^ from 
the busmess; and this would be followed by an advance within six 
months after our mills were shut down. 

"We propose this advanced duty to protect our manufacturers and 
consumers ag-amst the British monopoly, m the belief that it will 
defend our capital and labor in the production of tin plate until they 
shall establish an industry which the English ^^ill recognize has come 
to stay, and then competition will insure regular and reasonable prices 
to consumers. It may add a little temporarily to the cost of tin plate 
tothe consumer, but will eventuate in steadier and more satisfactory 
prices At the present j.rices for foreign tin plate, the proposed duty 
would not add anything- to the cost of the heavier grades of tin to the 
consumer. If the entire duty were added to the' cost of the can it 
would not adN-ance it more than one-third or one-half of one cent for 

cTnts '''" ^''"^ ''"' ^''' '''^'''^'"" ''"'"^'^ ^''"'^'''^y ''''^y '^^ ^-^1^°"^ 3 
_ ''Mr. Cliairman. gentlemen on the other side take great comfort 
m a quotation which they make from Daniel Webstcn Thev'have 
bought It so valuable that they have put it in their ininority report 
it IS rom a speech made by Mr. Webster in Faneuil hall in iS^o 
wheii he condemned the protective policy. I want to put Daniel Wei> 
ster in 1846 agamst Daniel Webster in 1820. Listen to an extra t 
fn.m his speech of July 25, 1846-the last tariff speech and probably 

ia^ernitrLS'"' ''''-' ''-' '- - '-'^- '■- '-"p"''-'' 

" 'But, sir, Ix.f,-,re I proceed furtlier, I will talce notice of wliat 
^,>pears to be some a„e„,,t, latterly, by the republication of opinlt 
ami expressions, arguments and speeches of mine, at an earlier and a 
a er penod ot my life, to place me in a position of inconsistency on 
tns .subject ot the protecti,-e policy of the country. Mr President 
.f It be an niconsistency to hold an opinion upon a subject of public 
pchcy to-day ,n one state of circtmtstances. and to hold a different 
.l^n.on upon the same subject of public policy to-n,orrow in a ch - 
fetent s ate of crct.ntstances. if that be an inconsistency, I admit ts 
application to myself.' ■ 

tariff;';;;' aXi:'""" ''■"""'"'■ "" '*■"' "^"^^'^ °f "- p™'-'>-- 

" 'The interest of eyery laboring: community requires diyersity of 

occupations, pursuits, and objects of industry. The more that diyeTsi^y 

IS multiplied or extended the better. To diversify employn,^ is to 

ucrease employment and to enhance wajes. .And." sir, 'ake this ^re t 

truth; place it on the title page of eyery book of political economy in- 



Our Martyred President 239 

tended for the use of the government; put it in every farmer's ahnanac; 
let it be the heading of the column in every mechanic's magazine; pro- 
claim it everywhere, and make it a proverb, tliat where there is work 
for the hands of men there will be work for their teeth. Where there 
is employment there will be bread. It is a great blessing to the poor 
to have cheap food, but greater than tiiat, prior to that, and of still 
higher value, is the blessing of being able to buy food by honest and 
respectable employment. Employment feeds, and clothes, and instructs. 
Employment gives health, sobriety, and morals. Constant employ- 
ment and well paid labor produce in a country like ours general pros- 
perity, contentment and cheerfulness. Thus happy have we seen the 
country. Thus happy may we long continue to see it.' 

"In this happy condition we have seen the country under a pro- 
tective policy. It is hoped w'e may long continue to see it, and if he 
had lived long enough he would have seen the best vindication of his 
later views. Then he continued, and I commend this especially, in all 
kindness and with great respect, to the gentlemen of the minority of 
the committee : 

'' T hope I know more of the constitution of my country than 1 did 
when I was 20 years old. 

" T hope I have contemplated its great objects more broadly. I 
hope I have read with deeper interest the sentiments of the great men 
who framed it. I hope I have studied w^ith more care the condition 
of the country when the convention assembled to form it. . , . 
And now, sir, allow me to say that I am quite indifferent, or rather thank- 
ful, to those conductors of the public press who think they cannot do 
better than now^ and then to spread my poor opinions before the public' 

"What is the nature of the complaint against this bill — that it 
shuts us out of the foreign market? No, for whatever that is worth 
to our citizens will be just as accessible under this bill as under the 
present law. We place no tax or burden or restraint upon American 
products going out of the country. They are as free to seek the best 
markets as the products of any commercial power, and as free to go 
out as though we had absolute free trade. Statistics show that pro- 
tective tariffs have not interrupted our export trade, but that it has 
always steadily and largely increased under them. 

'Tn the year 1843. being the first year after the protective tariff of 
1842 went into operation, our exports exceeded our imports $40,392,- 
229, and in the following year they exceeded our imports $3,141,226. 
In the two years following the excess of exports over imports was 
$15,475,000. Tlie last year under that tariff the excess of exports over 
imports w^as $34,317,249. So during the five years of the tariff of 1842 



240 Life of William McKinley 

the excess of exports over imports was $62,175,000. Under the 1(j\v 
tariff of 1846, this was reversed, and, v/ith the single exception of the 
year 1858, the imports exceeded the exports (covering a period of 
fourteen years) $465, 553-625. 

"We have now enjoyed twenty-nine years continuously of pro- 
tective tariff laws — the longest uninterrupted period in which that 
policy has prevailed since the formation of the federal government — 
and we find ourselves at the end of that period in a condition of inde- 
pendence and prosperity the like of wdiich has never been witnessed 
at any other period in the history of our country, and the like of wdiich 
has no parallel in the recorded history of the world. In all that goes 
to make a nation great and strong and independent we have made 
extraordinary strides. In arts, in science, in literature, in manufactures, 
in invention, in scientific principles applied to manufacture and agri- 
culture, in wealth and credit and national honor we are at the very 
front, abreast w^ith the best, and behind none. 

"In i860, after fourteen years of a revenue tariff, just the kind of 
a tariff* that our political adversaries are advocating to-day, the busi- 
ness of the country was prostrated, agriculture was deplorably de- 
pressed, manufacturing was on the decline, and the poverty of the gov- 
ernment itself made this nation a byword in the financial centers of 
the world. We neither had money nor credit. Both are essential; a 
nation can get on if it has abundant revenues, but if it has none it 
must have credit. We had neither, as the legacy of the Democratic 
revenue tariff. We have both now. We have a surplus revenue and 
a spotless credit. I need not state what is so fresh in our minds, so 
recent in our history as to be known to every gentleman who hears 
me, that from the inauguration of the protective tariff law^s of 1861, 
the old Morrill tariff — wliich has brought to that veteran statesman 
the highest honor, and will give to him his proudest monument — this 
condition changed. Confidence was restored, courage was inspired, 
the government started upon a progressive era under a system thor- 
oughly American. 

"With a great war on our hands, with an army to enlist and pre- 
pare for service, with untold millions of money to supply, the pro- 
tective tariff never failed us in a single emergency, and w^hile money 
was flowing into our treasury to save the government, industries were 
springing up all over the land — the foundation and cornerstone of 
our prosperity and glory. With a debt of over $2,750,000,000 w^hen 
the war terminated, holding on to our protective laws, against Dem- 
ocratic opposition, we have reduced that debt at an average rate of 
more than $62,000,000 each year, $174,000 every twenty- four hours 




LEAVING MILBURN RESIDENCE FOR CITY HALL, BUFFALO. 




ARRIVAL OF FUNERAL TRAIN AT CANTON, O., FROM WASHINGTON. 



Our Martyred President 241 

for the last twenty-fiv'e years, and what looked to be a burden almost 
iniuossible to bear has been removed, under the Republican hscal sys^ 
tern mitil now it is less than $1,000,000,000, and with the payment of 
this' vast sum of money the nation has not been impoverished The 
uKlividual eitizen has not been burdened or bankrupted. National 
and individual prosperity have gone steadily on, until our wealth is so 
o-reat as to be almost incomprehensible when put into hgures. _ 
"^ "First then to retain our own market, under the democratic sys- 
tem of^'aising revenue bv removing all protection, would require our 
producers to sell at as low a price and upon as favorable terms as our 
foreign competitors. How could that be done? In one way only- 
by pnxlucing as cheaply as those who would seek our markets What 
would that ^entai' ? An entire revolution in the methods and condi- 
tion and conduct of business here, a leveling down through every chan- 
nel to the lowest line of our competitors; our habits of living would 
have to be changed, our wages cut down 50 per cent more, our com- 
fortable homes exchanged for hovels, our independence yielded up, 
our citizenship demoralized. These are conditions inseparable to free 
trade- these wcnild be necessary if we would command our own mar- 
ket among our own people; and if we would invade tire worlds mar- 
kets harsher conditions and greater sacrifices would be demanded of 
the masses. Talk about depression— we would then have it m its ful- 
ness We would revel in unrestrained trade. Everything would, in- 
deed be cheap, but how costly when measured by the degradation 
which would ensue! When merchandise is the cheapest, men are the 
poorest, and the most distressing experiences in the history of our 
country-ay, in all human history-have been when everything was 
the lowest and cheapest, measured by g.^ld, for everything was the 
highest and the dearest, measured by labor. W^e want no return of 
cheap times in our own country. W'e have no wish to adopt the con- 
ditions of other nations. Experience has demonstrated that for us and 
ours, and for the present and the future, the protective system meets 
our wants, our conditions, promotes the national design, and will work 
out our destiny better than any other. 

"With me this position is a deep conviction, not a theory, i be- 
lieve in it and thus warmly advocate it because enveloped in it are my 
country's highest development and greatest prosperity; out of it come 
the greatest gains to the people, the greatest comforts to the masses, 
the widest encouragement for manly aspirations, with the largest re- 
wards dignifying and elevating our citizenship, upon which the safety, 
and purity, and permanency of our political system depend. —Honse^ 

of Rcprcscnlaiivcs, May 7, i8po. 
' 16 



242 Life of William McKinley 

THE BLACK COLOR-BEARER. 

"Our black allies must neither be deserted nor forsaken. Every 
right secured them by the constitution must be as surely given to 
tliem as though God had put upon their faces the color of the Anglo- 
Saxon race. They fought for the Hag in the war, and that Hag, with 
all it represents and stands for, must secure them every constituticjnal 
right in peace. y\t Baton Rouge, the hrst regiment of the Black bri- 
gade, before starting for Port Hudson, received at the hands of its 
white colonel — Colonel Stafford — its regimental colors in a speech from 
the colonel, which ended with this injunction: 

" 'Color-bearer, guard, defend, prtAect, die for, but do not surrender, 
these colors.' 

"To which the sergeant replied — and he was as black as my coat: 

"'Colonel, I'll return those flags to you in honor, or I'll report to 
God the reason why.' 

"He fell mortally wounded, in e)ne of the desperate charges in front 
of Port Hudson, wath his face to the enemy, with those colors in his 
clenched fist pressed upon his breast. He did not return the colors, but 
God above him knew the reason why. 

"Against those who fought on the other side in that great conflict 
WQ have no resentment; for lliem we have no bitterness. W'e would 
impose upon them no punishment; we would inflict upon them no in- 
dignity. They are our brothers. We would save them even from 
humiliation. But 1 will tell you what we insist upon, and we will insist 
upon it until it is secured — that the settlement made between Grant 
and Lee at Appomattox, which was afterward embodied in the consti- 
tution of the United States, shall be obeyed and respected in every part 
of this Union. More we have never asked, less we will not have." — 
Neiu York, "TJic American J^oluntccr Soldier," May 50, i88g. 

THE AMERICAN W'ORKINGMAN. 

"The ideals of yesterday are the truths of to-day. What we hope 
for and aspire to now we wilK realize in the future if we are prudent 
and careful. If right is on our side, and we pursue resolute but orderly 
methods to secure our end, it is sure to come. There is no better way 
of securing wdiat we want, and what we believe is best for us and those 
for whom we have a care, than the old way of striving earnestly and 
honestly for it. The labor of the country constitutes its strength and 
its w-ealth, and the better that labor is conditioned, the higher its 
rewards, the wider its opportunities, and the greater its comforts and 
refinements, the better will be our civilization, the more sacred will be 



Our Martyred President 243 

our homes, the more capable our cliildren, and the nobler will be the 
destiny which awaits us. We can only walk in the path of right, reso- 
lutely insisting on the right, always being sure at the same time that 
we are right ourselves, and time will bring the victories. To labor 
is accorded its full share of the advantages of a government like ours. 
None more than the laborers enjoy the benefits and blessings which our 
free institutions make. This country differs in many and essential 
respects from other countries, and, as is often said, it is just this dif- 
ference which makes us the best of all. It is the difference between 
our political equality and the caste conditions of other nations which 
elevates and enlightens the iVmerican laborer, and inspires within him 
a feeling of pride and manhood. It is the difference in recompense 
received by him for his labor and that received by the foreigner which 
enables him to acquire for himself and his a cheery home 
and the comforts of life. It is the difference between our 
educational facilities and the less liberal opportunities for learning in 
other lands which vouchsafes to him the priceless privilege of rearing 
a happy, intelligent, and God-fearing family. The great Matthew 
Arnold has truly said, 'America holds the future.' It is in commemo- 
ration of the achievements of labor in the past that Labor day was 
established. It was eminently fitting that the people should turn aside 
on one day of the year from their usual vocation and rejoice together 
over the unequaled prosperity that has been vouchsafed to them. The 
triumphs of American labor cannot easily be recited nor its trophies 
enumerated. But, great as they have been in the past. I am fullv con- 
vinced that there arc richer rewards in store for labor in the future." — 
Cincinuati, 0., Sept. i, iSpi. 

THE EIGHT-HOUR LAW. 

"Mr. Speaker: — I am in favor of this bill. It' has been said that 
it is a bill to limit the opportunity of the workingman to gain a live- 
lihood. This is not true; it will have the opposite effect. So far as 
the government of the United States as an employer is concerned, 
in the limitation for a day's work provided in this bill to eight hours, 
instead of putting any limitation upon the opportunity of tlie Amer- 
ican freeman to earn a li\-ing. it increases and enlarges his opportunity. 
Eight hours under the laws of the United States constitute a day's 
work. Tliat law has been on our statute books for twentv-two years. 
In all these years it has been 'the word of promise to the ear.' but by 
the government of the United States it has been 'broken to the hope.' 
the government and its ofBcials should be swift to execute and enforce 



244 L^^^ ^^ William McKinley 

its own laws; failure in this particular is most reprehensible. Now, 
it must be remembered that when we constitute eight hours a day's 
work, instead of ten hours, every four days give an additional day's 
work to some workingman who may not have any employment at 
all. It is one more day's work, one more day's wages, one more oppor- 
<^unity for work and wages, an increased demand for labor. I am in 
favor of this bill as it is amended by the mution of the gentlemarv 
from Maryland. It applies ncnv only to the labor of men's hands. 
It applies only to their w^ork. It does not apply to material, it does 
not apply to transjwrtation. It only applies to the actual labor, skilled 
or unskilled, employed on public works and in the execution of the con- 
tracts of the government. And the government of the United States 
ought, finally and in good faith, to set this example of eight hours 
as constituting a day's work required of laboring men in the service 
of the United States. The tendency of the times the world over is 
for shorter hours for labor, shorter hours in the interest of health, 
shorter hours in the interest of humanity, shorter hours in the 
interest of the home and the family; and the United States 
can do no better service to labor and to its ow^n citizens than 
to set the example to states, to corporations and to individuals employ- 
ing men l)y declaring that, so far as the government is concerned, 
eight hours shall constitute a day's work, and l)e all that is required of 
its laboring force. This bill should be passed. My colleague, Mr. 
Morey, has stated wdiat we ow'e the family in this connection, and 
Cardinal Manning, in a recent article, spoke noble words on the general 
subject when he said: 

" 'But if the domestic life of the people be vital above all, if the 
peace, the purity of homes, the education of children, the duties of 
wives and mothers, the duties of husbands and of fathers be written 
in the natural law^ of mankind, and if these things are sacred, far be- 
yond anything that can be sold in the market, then I say, if the hours 
of labor resulting from the unregulated sale of a man's strength and 
skill shall lead to the destruction of domestic life, to the neglect of 
children, to turning wives and mothers into living machines, and of 
fathers and husl)ands into — what shall I say, creatures of burden? — 
T will not say any other word — who rise up before the sun, and come 
l)ack Vv'hen it is set, wearied and able only to take food and lie dowai to 
rest, the domestic life of men exists no longer, and we dare not go on 
in this path.' 

"We owe something to the care, the elevation, the dignity, and the 
education of labor. We owe something to the workingmen and the 
families of the workingmen througliout the United States, who con- 



Our Martyred President 245 

stitnte the large body of our population, and this bill is a step in the 
right direction." — House of Rcprcscntaik'cs, August 28, i8po. 

EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP. 

"Air. Frcsidcnt, Mcuihcrs of the Faculty and Students of the Ohio 
State University, and fellozv Citi:;ens: — The Prussian maxim, 'What- 
ever you would have appear in the life of a nation, you must put into 
your schools,' I would amend : 'What you would have appear in the 
life of a nation, you must put into your homes and schools.' The be- 
ginning of education is in the home, and the great advantage of the 
American system of instruction is largely due to the elevated influences 
of the happy and prosperous homes of our people. There is the foun- 
dation, and a most important part of education. If the home life be 
pure, sincere, and good, the child is usually well prepared to receive all 
the advantages and inspirations of more ad^'anced education. The 
American home, where honesty, sobriety, and truth preside, and the 
simple every-day virtues are practised, is the nursery of true education. 
Out of such homes usually come the men and women who make our 
citizenship pure and elevating, and the state and nation strong and 
enduring. 

"It is unfortunate that the great National University which Wash- 
ington so strenu(Aisly advocated was not long ago established, with 
an endowment commensurate with the dignity and importance of our 
government, to which all the universities of all the states would be 
auxiliary institutions and tributary in the same degree that our public 
schools are becoming more and more training schools for the state 
universities. To my mind the need of such a university is as essential 
today for the welfare of the repul)lic as the most enlightened and pro- 
gressive nation of the world as it was in the days of our first greatest 
president. His great character and broad comprehension not only domi- 
nated the age in which he lived, but his advice may yet be followed to 
the great advantage of the youth of this and future ages. 

"In the limitations of an address of this character, it is impossible 
to do more than allude to the great work of the states of the Union, 
in their independent relations, in behalf of education. It has surpassed 
even the high standard of the nation. Two items may be given in 
illustration : The total expenditures of the country in support of the 
common schools in 1870 were $63,300,000; in 1880, $78,100,000; and 
in 1890, $140,370,00(5, an average increase of nearly $4,000,000 per 
annum. The value of school property has also greatly increased. In 
1870 it was $130,380,000; in 1880, $209,571,000; and in 1890, $342,- 



246 Life of William McKinley 

876,000, an average increase per year of $10,000,000 for the whole 

period. 

"In addition to this great outlay by the nation and the states, Amer- 
ica has just reason to be proud of the private benefactions which her 
philanthropic citizens are constantly making to her colleges and univer- 
sities. In the founding of public libraries and in aid of the higher 
schools from 1871 to 1891 the amount of these gifts exceeded $80,000,-- 
000, or more than $4,000,000 a year. I have been pleased to ol)serve 
that this great University has not been neglected in this regard. The 
wise beneficence of the late Hon. Henry F. Page, of Circleville. the 
widow of tlie late Hon. Henry C. Noble, and, more recently, of the 
Hon. Emerson McMillin, of Columbus, are examples worthy of emula- 
tion by tlK^se who have been favored by fortune. Surely accunndated 
wealth can find no object so deserving and so far-reaching in its benehts. 

"But what has been the result of this unparalleled expenditure and 
munificence? A\'e behold, first, the most satisfactory progress in the 
public schools, whose enrollment has now reached 13,203,877 pupils, 
or twenty-three per cent of our entire population, a greater percentage 
than that of any other nation in the world. The people \vere never 
more willing to pour out their treasure for the support of these schools. 
The annual expenditure in the United States compared wdth other coun- 
tries shows how near they are to the hearts of the people. The expendi- 
ture in Italy is $7,000,000, or tw^enty-live 'cents per capita; in Austria, 
$12,000,000, or thirty cents per capita; in Germany, $26,000,000, or 
fifty cents per capita; in France, $31,000,000, or eighty cents per 
capita; in Great Britain $48,000,000, or $1.30 per capita; in the United 
States, in 1892, $156,000,000, or $2.40 per capita. Our census returns 
of 1890 show that eighty-seven per cent of our total population over 
ten years of age can read and write. Tn the history of the human race,' 
says Mulhall, the English statistician, 'no nation ever before possessed 
41,000,000 instructed citizens.' 

"But, ]\Ir. President, we must not forget that the whole aim and 
object of education is to elevate the standard of citizenship. The up- 
lifting of our schools will undoubtedly result in a higher and better tone 
in business and professional life. Old methods and standards may be 
good, but they must advance with the new problems and needs of the 
age. The collegiate methods of the Eighteenth Century will not suf- 
fice for the Twentieth, any more than the packhorse could meet the 
demands of the great freight traffic of today. This age demands an 
education which, while not depreciating in any degree the inestimable 
advantages of high intellectual culture, shall best fit the man and woman 
for his or her calling, whatever it may be. In this the moral element 



Our Martyred President 247 

must not be omitted. Character — Christian character — is the founda- 
tion uix)n which we must build if our institutions are to endure. Our 
obhgations for the splendid advantages we enjoy should not rest upon 
us too lightly. We owe to our country much. We must give in return 
for these matchless educational opportunities the best results in our 
lives. We must make our citizenship worthy the great Republic, intelli- 
gent, patriotic, and self-sacrificing, or our institutions will fail of their 
high purpose, and our civilization will inevitably decline. Our hope is 
in the public schools and in the university. Let us fervently pray that 
they may always be generously supported, and that those who go out 
from these halls will be themselves the best witnesses of their force and 
virtue in popular government." — Columbus, Ohio, June 12, 1895. 

AN AUXILIARY TO RELIGION. 

"Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: — I am very glad to join 
with the citizens of Youngstown in celebrating the completion of this 
beautiful Ijuilding, dedicated to the young men for physical, moral, 
and religious trainin.g. 1 congratulate the young men upon their good 
fortune and unite with them in gratitude to the generous, public-spirited 
peo])lc through whose efiorts this Christian home has been established. 
It will stand a monument to your city and an honor to those who have 
shared in its erection. It will be an auxiliary to all moral and relig- 
i(Uis eff(M-t. It will be the vestibule to the Church, and the gateway 
to a higher and better Christian life. It will not take the place of the 
Church, and other agencies for good, but it will supplement and strengthen 
them all. 

"It is a good omen for our civilization and country when these 
Associations can be successfully planted as a part of the system of per- 
manent education for the improvement and elevation of the masses; 
it is another step upward and onward to <a higher and grander Christian 
civilization. It is another recognition of the Master who rules over all, a 
worthy tribute to Him, w^ho came on earth to save fallen man and lead 
him to a higher plane. It is an expression of your faith in an overruling 
Providence, and strengthens the faith of every believer. You have been 
made better by the gifts you have bestowed upon this now completed 
undertaking : you have the approval of not only your own consciences, but 
you have the gratitude of the present generation, and you will have, 
in r.ll time to come, the blessings of those who are to be the future 
beneficiaries of this institution. Respect for true religion and righteous 
living is on the increase. Men no longer feel constrained to conceal 
their faith to avoid derision. The religious believer commands and re- 



248 Life of William McKinley 

ceives the highest consideration at the hands of his neighbors and 
countrymen, however much they may disagree with him; and when his 
life is made to conform to his rehgious professions, his influence is 
ahnost without hmitation, widespread and far-reaching. 

"No man gets on so weh in this world as he whose daily walk 
and conversation are clean and consistent, whose heart is pure and whose 
life is honorable. A rehgious spirit helps every man. It is at once a 
comfort and an inspiration, and makes him stronger, wiser, and better 
in every relation of life. There is no substitute for it. It may be 
assailed by its enemies, as it has been, but they offer nothing in its pLace. 
It has stood the test of centuries, and has never failed to help and bless 
mankind. It is stronger today than at any previous period of its his- 
tory, and every event like this you celebrate increases its permanency 
and power. The world has use for the young man who is well grounded 
in principle, who has reverence for truth and religion, and courageously 
follows their teachings. Employment awaits his coming, and honor 
crowns his path. More than all this, conscious of rectitude, he meets 
the cares of life with courage; the duties which confront him he dis- 
charges with manly honesty. These Associations elevate and purify 
our citizenship, and establish more firmly the foundations of our free 
institutions. The men who established this government had faith in 
God and sublimely trusted in Him. They besought His counsel and 
advice In every step of their progress. And so it has been ever since; 
American history abounds in instances of this trait of piety, this sin- 
cere reliance on a Higher Power in all great trials in our national affairs. 
Our rulers may not always be observers of the outward forms of re- 
ligion, but we have never had a president, from Washington to Harri- 
son, who publicly avowed infidelity, or scoffed at the faith of the masses 
of our people. 

"It is told of Lincoln that he once called upon General Sickles, who 
had just been brought from the field to Washington City, having lost 
a leg in one of the charges at Gettysburg. His call was one of sym- 
pathy, and, after he had inquired into every detail of that great and 
crucial battle. General Sickles said to him : 

" 'Mr. Lincoln, what did you think of .Gettysburg? Were you much 
concerned about it?' 

"Lincoln replied, 'I thought very little about Gettysburg, and I had 
no concern about it.' 

"The general expressed great surprise, and said that he had under- 
stood that the capital was in a great panic as to the outcome, and asked : 

" 'Why were you not concerned about the battle of Gettysburg?' 

" 'Well,' replied the simple-minded Lincoln, 'I will tell you, if you 



Our Martyred President 249 

will not tell anybody about it. Before the battle I went into my room 
at the White House, 1 knelt on my knees, and I prayed to God as I 
had never prayed to Him before, and I told Him if He would stand 
by us at Gettysburg I would stand by Him; and He did, and I shall. 
And when I arose from my knees I imagined I saw a spirit that told me 
I need not trouble about Gettysburg.' 

"j\Iay this institution meet the fullest expectations of its founders 
and projectors, and prove a mighty force in the well-being of the com- 
munity! Interested as 1 am in every department of work in our state, 
I can not avoid especial and peculiar interest in anything which bene- 
fits the Mahoning Valley, the place . where I was born, and where I 
spent my younger nianhood, and around which cling tender and affec- 
tionate memories that can never be effaced. I am glad to share this 
day with you, to participate in these exercises which open the doors of 
this building to the young men of this valley, consecrated to honorable 
uses, and for their lasting good. I wish you prosperity in your work- 
shops, love in your homes, and bid you Godspeed in this laudable work." 
— Dedication of Y. M. C. A. Building, Youngstozun, 0., Sept. 6, i8g2. 

PROSPERITY AND POLITICS. 

*'It is loudly proclaimed through the democratic press that prosperity 
has come. 1 sincerely hope that it has. Whatever prosperity we have 
has been a long time coming, and after nearly three years of business 
depression, a ruinous panic and a painful and widespread suffering 
among the people. I pray that we may be at the dawn of better times 
and of enduring prosperity, I have believed it would come, in some 
measure, with every successive republican victory. I have urged for 
two years past that the election of a republican congress would strip 
the democratic party of power to further cripple the enterprises of the 
country, and would be the beginning of a return of confidence, and that 
general and permanent prosperity could only come when the democratic, 
party was voted out of power in every branch of the national government, 
and the republican party voted in, pledged to repeal their destructive 
and un-American legislation, which has so seriously impaired the pros- 
perity of the people and the revenues and credit of the government. 

"It is a most significant fact, however, that the activity in business we 
have now is chiefly confined to those branches of industry which the 
democratic party was forced to leave with some protection, notably, iron 
and steel. There is no substantial improvement in those branches of 
domestic industry where the lower duties or no duties on the democratic 
tariff have sharpened and increased foreign competition. These indus- 



250 Life of William McKinley 

tries are still lifeless, and if not lifeless, arc unsatisfactory and unprofit- 
able, both to capital and labor, 

"There is a studied effort in certain quarters to show that the ai:parent 
prosperity throughout the country is the result of democratic tariff 
legislation. I do not think that those who assert this, honestly and 
sincerely believe it. It is worth remembering, and can never be forgotten, 
that there was no revival of business, no return of confidence or gleam 
of hope in business circles, until the elections of 1894, which, by unprece- 
dented majorities, gave the popular branch of congress to the republican 
party, and took away from the democratic party the power to do further 
harm to the industries of the country and the occupations of the people. 
This was the aim, meaning and purpose of that vote. With the near 
and certain return of the repuljlican party to full possession of power 
in the United States, comes naturally and logically increased faith in 
the country and assurance to business men that, for years to come, they 
will have rest and relief from democratic incompetency in the manage- 
ment of the industrial and financial affairs of the government. Whatever 
prosperity we are having (and just how much nobody seems to know), 
and with all hoping for the best, and hoping that it may stay and increase, 
and yet all breathless with suspense, is in spite of democratic legislation, 
and not because of it. 

"The republican party never conceals its purposes. They are an open 
book to be read by every man. The whole world knows them ; it has 
embodied them in law, and executed them in administration almost unin- 
terruptedly since the 4th of March, 1861. It has Ijravely met every 
emergency in all those trying years, and has been adequate to every 
public obl-i^-a-t4oii^nd pubhcjilutyy'^It is dedicated to the people ; it stands 
for the United States; it beheves that this government should be run 
by ourselves and for ourselves ; its sim])le code is home and country ; its 
central idea is the well-being of the people and all the people; it has no 
aim which does not take into account the honor of the government and 
the material and intellectual well-being and happiness of the people. We 
can do no better than to stick to the old party — indeed, we can not do so 
well as to stick to the old party which guided the republic for a third 
of a century in safety and honor; which gave the country adequate 
revenue, and, while doing that, gave capital profitable investment and 
labor comfortable wages and steady employment; which guarded every 
American interest at home and abroad with zealous care; which never 
lowered the flag of our country, but whose business has ever been to exalt 
it, and whose principles, the application of which has made us a nation 
of happy homes, of independent and prosperous free-men." — Spn'ng/icid, 
Ohio, Sc[^f. TO, i8p5. 



Our Martyred President 251 

GEMS OF PATRIOTIC EXPRESSION, 

"Every anniversary, national or local, properly observed, is a positive 
good. It emphasizes the ties of home and country. It appeals to our 
!)etter aspirations and incites us to higher and nobler aims." — YoiDigs- 
toivn, Ohio, Sept. 14, 188/. 

"The admonition of Lincoln — to 'care for him who shall have borne 
the battle and for his widow and his orphan' — will never be forgotten 
or neglected so long as the republican party holds the reins of power. 
Full justice will always be done to the soldiers and sailors of the Union." 
— At OrrviUe, Ohio, Aug. 26, i8go. 

"There is not a volunteer soldier before me, there is not a volunteer 
of the republic anywhere, who would exchange his honorable record in 
behalf of freedom and mankind, in behalf of the freest and best govern- 
ment on the face of the earth, for any money consideration. His patriot- 
ism is above price. It can not be bought. It is not merchandise for 
barter. It is not in the market. I thank God there are some things that 
money cannot buy, and patriotisfn is one of them." — Canton, Ohio, May 
SO, 1901. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

William McKinley's Masterpieces of Eloquence. 
Continued. 

MEMORIAL DAY ADDRESS. 

"This day has been given to the dead, but its lessons are intended for 
the living. It has been the occasion for a generous manifestation on the 
part of the people of their gratitude to the men who saved the country in 
war. But its true intent will have been lost if it has failed to inspire 
in all our hearts a deeper sentiment of patriotism and a stronger attach- 
ment to those great ideas for which these men gave their lives. It is an 
impressive fact to contemplate that today millions of our fellow citizens 
from every part of the country have abandoned all thoughts of business, 
and turned their footsteps to the places where sleep our heroic dead, that 
they may with loving hands and grateful hearts pay tender tribute to 
their virtues and their valor. This consecration day is a popular demon- 
stration of affection for the patriotic dead and bears unmistakable evi- 
dence that patriotism in the United States has not declined or abated. 

"There was nothing personally attractive about any of the features 
of enlistment in the War of the Rebellion. It was business of the most 
serious sort. Every soldier took a dreadful chance. His offering was 
nothing short of his own life-blood if required. These, however, seemed 
insignificant in that overmastering love of country, in that fervent 
patriotism which filled the souls of the boys, in that high and noble 
resolve which they all possessed, that they were to save to themselves, to 
their families and their fellow countrymen, the freest and purest govern- 
ment, and to mankind the largest liberty and the highest and best civiliza- 
tion in the world. With that spirit more than two million men went forth 
to accept any sacrifice which cruel war might exact. The extent of that 
sacrifice exceeded human expectation, but it was offered, freely offered, 
for the country. Can we ever cease to be debtors to these men? Is 
there anything they are not worthy to receive at our hands? Is there 
any emolument too great for them ? Is there any benefaction too bounti- 
ful? Is there any obligation too lasting? Is there any honor too distin- 
guished which a loving people can bestow that they ought not to receive ? 
What the nation is or may become we owe to them. If there is one of 

252 



Our Martyred President 253 

these fighting patriots sick at heart and discouraged, the cheerful and 
the strong, who are the beneficiaries of his valor, should comfort and 
console him. If there is one who is sick or suffering from wounds, the 
best skill and the most tender nursing should wait upon and attend him. 

"It is interesting to note the size of our armies in the several wars 
in which the United States has participated. The number of Colonial 
troops in the Revolution was 294,791. In the War of 1812 the total 
number of Americans was 576,622. In the Mexican War the troops 
engaged for the United States numbered 1 12,230. The number of Union 
troops engaged in the RebelHon was 2,859,000, or three times the com- 
bined force of the American army in all former wars. Tlie magnitude 
of the struggle is also strikingly illustrated by a comparison of casualties, 
'i'he casualties in the War of 181 2 were 1,877 killed in battle, 3,739 
wounded. In the Mexican War, 1,049 were killed. 904 died of wounds, 
and 3,420 w^ere wounded. In the War of the Rel)ellion, 61,362 were 
kJHed outright, 34,627 died of wounds, and 183,287 died of disease. In 
other words, our casualties in the Rel^ellion in killed and those who 
died of wounds and disease were only 15,000 less in number than the 
entire army of the United Colonies in the war witli Great Britain, and 
two and one-half times the entire force engaged on the part of the United 
States in the war with Mexico. But it gives as a truer idea of the dread- 
ful sacrifices of the country to compare our casualties with the casualties 
of European w^ars. At the battle of Waterloo there were 80,000 French, 
with 252 guns, and of the Allies, 72,000 troops and 186 guns. The loss 
of tlic French was 26,000, estimated, and of the Allies, 23,185. At our 
iKitfle of (}ett\sburg, the Union force engaged was 82,000 and 300 guns. 
The Confederates had 70,000 troops and 250 guns. The loss was 25,203 
to tlie Union forces, and 27,525 to the Confederate forces. Gravelotte 
was the bloodiest battle of the Franco-Prussian War, and the German 
loss was in killed, 4,449, and wounded, 15,189, out of 146,000 troops 
engaged. IMieade's loss at Gettysburg was greater in numbers, while he 
liad only one-half as many men engaged. 

"The pension list of the government tells w^ell the story of the suffer- 
ing of our great army. On June 30, 1893, pensions were paid to 725.742 
invalid soldiers, and to 185.477 widows. In the navy pensions were paid 
CO 16,901 Invalid sailors and to 6,697 widows, making a grand total of 
934,817 pensioners. Our pension roll on June 30, 1893, contained nearl)^ 
as many pensioners as the entire muster rolls of the United States in the 
War of the Revolution, in the War of 181 2, and the Mexican War 
combined. Within 50,000 as many names are now borne on our pension 
rolls as were contained on the enlistment rolls of all our armies in every 
war from the Revolution to the Civil War. 



^54 Life of William McKinley 

"ily comrades, this long and higlily honorable list is being diminishes 
by death, and will rapidly decrease as the years go by. Tl,e pension rol 
has probably now readied its maximum. Hereafter it is hkeiy to recede 
Death will stalk tiiroi.gl, this patriotic Hst with increased rapidity as ae. 
overtakes it, as it is hoin-jy doing, iliat great army „t i«6i. The olde, 
veterans cannot hst a great while l.niger. K.xposure has hastene.l to tliei, 
door tlie steps ot the pale messenger. (i„<l grant tliat while they are still 
with ns they sliall enjoy, without stint ..r grudge, the bounten.is henefac 
tions of the country they served aiul the tender c;re and the gener,.,,, 
respect of their neighbors an<l fellow citizens! -iJisplaceil tVom .he 
I nsion roll by death carries no taint or .lishonor, raises no suspicion ui 
.uworthmcss. J, the pensi„n roll is iliminished. „r di.placemei t occurs 
from ,,tlier causes, let it be for reasons jtis, and lioiioi'able. Thei I e 

republic will be quick to applau.l. Let us care for the i,ee<lv survivors of 
that .great struggle m the true spirit of him who promised that ,1 e imioi 

:;;;h:s::;:iit.:'''''"''"^''^'''''^'-^^ 

"Sumpter and Annomattov ' \\']i>t -, .1 . i .- 
excite Ho„. ,i,„ ,.,', ""■"■'""■"' "1 """••'"ones these names 

excite. How they come unbulden to -every soldier as he contemplates the 
great events of the war! The one markcl the l.ginning. the tier e 
..se of the great struggle. M ,.ne the shot was Ll wM icli thr ate. ed 
.Ins Union an,l the downfall of liberty. The other proclaimed ea 
-•"te m hi.story that the machinations which inaugurate,! war .Test 
1^1. a government with slavery as its crner-stoneliad failed ,! .'.ne 

01 tour >eais. tlie other was its end and the beginning of a reunited 

.ra u, mav last forever and forever more, blading the pathway of freedom 

T, ':::martd':!;^"■'^M"''^^"'^^^^ 

lie one market tie wild rush of ma<l passion : the other was the restora 
-n of the cool ju.Igment. discipline,! by the terrible or,!eal f o.ir veaK 
l'>-'v "ar Patriotism, justice an.l righteousness triumphe I T ' 
■cpubhc winch r,o<l ha,l onlaine,! withstood the shock of iZ 1 n I 
and your comrades were the willing instrui, eiit t e 1 1 is of t n'; 
Oivine power that guides nations wliich love an,l serve Tlii 

faith o^'rethlier'nT?, '""" ''"■ J^'^'^'^'' ""= -'"P'^ •■""' -'"i"- 
.1 in ot tne sohher. ami the prophecv of the outcome of the war in words 



Our Martyred President 255 

" 'W'liere arc yuu going, soldiers, 
With banner, gun. antl swi^rd?' 
'We're marching south to Canaan 
Tu battle f<«r the Lord!' 

"Ves. the Lord took care (»f us then. Will we heed His decrees and 
preserve unimpaired what He permitted us to win? Lilx-rty. my country- 
men, is responsibility; respojisibiiity is duty: duty is (jod's order. an<l 
whe!i faithfully «.l>eycd will preserve lilx?rty. Wc need have n(» fears 
of tlie I'ulure if we will perform every obligation of duty and citizenship. 
If wc lose the smallest share of our freedom, we have no one to blame 
but ourselves. This country is ours— ours to govern, ours to guide, ours 
to enjoy. We are both sovereign an<l subject. All are now free, 
subject henceforth to ourselves alone. We |)ay no homage to an early 
throne : only to God we Wnd the knee. The soldier did his work and did 
it well. The present and the future are with the citizen, whose judgment 
in our free country is supreme." — Mitsii- I/iiH. dint^n. 0!i!,\ May ^o, 

THi: AMERICAN VOLUNTEER SOLDIER. 

"Mr. President and Comrades of the Crand Army of the Ref^iihlie, 
and my l-ellow Citizens: — The (irand Army of the Republic is on duty 
today. I'ut not in the service of arms. The storm and siege and bivouac 
and battle line have given place to the ministrations (»f |)eace and the 
matiifestations of affectionate regard for fallen comrades, in whicii the 
great body of the ixrople cheerfully and reverently unite. The service of 
the day is more to us — far more to us — than to those in wln^se memory 
it is performed. It means nothing to the dead, everything to the living. 
It reminds us of what our stricken cr»mrades did and sacriticed and won. 
It teaches us the awful cost of liberty, and the price of national unity, and 
bids us guard with sacred and sleepless vigilance the great and immortal 
work which they wrought. 

"The anjuial tribute which this nation brings to its heroic deatl is. in 
part at least due to .American thought and concejuion. creditable to the 
living and honorable to the dead. Xo nation in the world has so honored 
her heroic dead as ours. The .soldiery of no cotmtry in the world have 
been crowned with such immortal meed or received at the hands of the 
people such substantial evidences of national regard. Other nations have 
decorated their great captains and have knighted their illustrious com- 
manders. Monuments have been erected to perpetuate their names. Per- 
manent and triumphal arches have been raised to mark llicir graves. 
Nothing has been omitted to manifest and make immortal their valorous 



256 Life of William McKinley 

deeds. But to America is mankind indebted for the loving and touching 
tribute this day performed, whicli brings the offerings of affection and 
tokens of love to the graves of all our soldier dead. We not only honor 
our great captains and illustrious commanders, the men who led the vast 
armies to battle, but we shower ecjual h(jnt)rs in equal measure upon all, 
irrespective of rank in battle or condition at home. Our gratitude is of 
that grand patriotic character which recognizes no titles, permits no dis- 
crimination, subordinates all distinctions; and the soldier, whether of the 
rank and file, the line or the staff, who fought and fell for liberty and 
union — all who fought in the great cause and have since died, are warmly 
cherished in the hearts, and are sacred to the memory of the people. 

"Mr. President, from the very commencement of our Civil War we 
recognized the elevated ])atriotism of the rank and file of the army and 
their unselfish consecration to the country, while subsecjuent years have 
only served to increase our admiration for their splendid and hei-oic 
services. They enlisted in the army with no expectation of promotion; 
not for the paltry pittance of pay; not for fame or popular applause, for 
their services, however efticient, were not to be heralded abroad. They 
entered the army moved by the highest and purest motives of patriotism, 
that no harm might befall the republic. While detracting nothing from 
the fame of our matchless leaders, we know that, without that great" 
army of volunteers, the citizen soldiery, the brilliant achievements of 
the war would not ha\-e been possible. They, my fellow citizens, were 
the great power. They were the majestic and irresistible force. They 
stood behind the strategic commanders, whose intelligent and individual 
earnestness, guided by their genius, gained the imperishable victories 
of the war. I would not withhold the most generous eulogy from con- 
spicuous soldiers, living or dead — from the leaders, Grant, Sherman, 
Sheridan, Thomas, Meade, Hancock, McClellan, Hooker, and Logan— 
who flame out tlie very incarnation of soldiery valor and vigor before 
the eyes of the American people, and have an exalted rank in history, 
and fill a great place in the hearts of their countrymen. We need not 
fear, my fellow citizens, that the great captains will be forgotten. 

"My fellow citizens, the rank and file of the old regular army was 
made of the same heroic mold as our volunteer army. It is a recorded 
fact in history, that when treason swept over this country in 1861 — when 
distinguished officers, who had been educated at the public expense, who 
had taken the oath to support the constitution of the United States and 
defend this government aQ-ainst all its enemies, when thev proved recreant 
to trust and duty, and enlisted under the banner of the Confederacy— the 
rank and file of that old army stood steadfast to Federal authority, loyal 
to the Federal government, and no private soldier followed his old com- 




BIRTHPLACE OF McKINLEY. 




THE EMERGENCY HOSPITAL, BUFFALO. 



Our Martyred President 257 

nander into the ranks of the enemy. None were false to conscience or 
to CDuntry. None turned their backs on the old flag. 

"The most splendid exhibition of devotion to country, and to the 
government, and to the flag, was displayed also by our prisoners of war. 
We had 175,000 soldiers taken prisoners during the Civil War, and 
when death was stalking within the walls of their prisons, when starva- 
tion was almost overcoming their brave hearts, when mind was receding 
and reason was tottering, liberty was ofifered to those 175,000 men upon 
one condition — that they would swear allegiance to the Confederate 
government, and enlist in the cause of the Confederacy. What was the 
answer of our brave but starving comrades? There could be but one 
answer. They preferred to suffer all and to bear all rather than to prove 
false to the cause they had sworn to defend. 

"Now, so far removed from the great war, we are prone to forget 
its disasters and underestimate its sacrifices. Their magnitude is best 
appreciated when contrasted with tlie losses and sacrifices of other 
armies in other times. There were slain in the late war nearly 6,000 
commanding officers and over 90,000 enlisted men, and 207,000 died 
of disease and from exposure, making a grand total of 303,000 men. In 
the War of the Revolution between the United States and Great Britain, 
excluding those captured at Yorktown and Saratoga, the whole number 
of men killed and wounded and captured of the combined British and 
American forces was less than 22.000. We witnessed that loss in a 
single battle in a single day in the great Civil War. From 1775 to 1861, 
including all the foreign wars in which we were engaged, and all our 
domestic disturl)ances, covering a period of nearly twenty-four years, we 
lost but ten general officers, while in the four and a half years of the late 
war, we lost one hundred and twenty-five. 

"And, my fellow citizens, we not only knew little of the scope and 
proportions of that great war, or the dreadful sacrifice to be incurred, but 
as little knew tlie great results which were to follow. We thought at the 
beginning, and we thought long after the commencement of the war, 
that the Union to be saved was the Union as it was. That was our 
understanding when we enlisted — that it was the Constitution and the 
Union — the Constitution as it was and the Union as it was — for which 
we fought, little heeding the teachings of history, that w^ars and 
revolutions cannot fix in advance the boundaries of their influence 
or determine the scope of their power. History enforces no sterner 
lesson. Our own revolution of 1776 produced results unlooked for 
by its foremost leaders. Separation was no part of the original pur- 
pose. Political alienation was no part of the first plan. Disunion was 
neither thought of nor accepted. Why, in 1775, on the 5th day of July, 

17 



258 Life of William McKinley 

in Philadelphia, when the continental congress was in session declaring 
its purposes toward Great Britain, what did it say ? After declaring that 
it would raise armies, it closed that declaration with this significant 
language : 

" 'Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of some of our 
friends and fellow subjects in other parts of the empire, we assure them 
that we do not mean to dissolve the union which has so long and happily 
subsisted between us.' 

"Our fathers said in that same declaration : 

" 'We have not raised armies with ambitious designs to separate from 
Great Britain and establish independent states.' 

"Those were the views of the fathers. Those were the views enter- 
tained by the soldiers and statesmen of colonial days. Why, even the 
Declaration of Independence, which has sounded the voice of liberty to 
all mankind, was a shock to some of the colonists. The cautious and 
conservative, while believing in its eternal truth, doubted its wisdom 
and its policy. It was in advance of the thought of the great body of 
the people. Yet it stirred a feeling for independence, and an aspiration 
for self-government, which made a republic which has now lived more 
than a century ; and only a few days ago you were permitted to celebrate 
the centennial inauguration in this city of its first great president. Out 
of all that came a republic that stands for human rights and human des- 
tiny, which to-day represents more than any other government the 
glorious future of the human race. 

"Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, those were brave men 
whose graves we decorated to-day. No less brave were those whose 
chambers of repose are beneath the scarlet fields in distant states. We 
may say of all them as was said of Knights of St. John in the Holy 
Wars : 'In the forefront of every battle was seen their burnished mail, 
and in the gloomy rear of every retreat was heard their voice of con- 
science and of courage.' 'It is not,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'what we say of 
them, but what they did, which will live.' They have written their own 
histories, they have builded their own monuments. No poor words of 
mine can enhance the glory of their deeds, or add a laurel to their fame. 
Liberty ov\^es them a debt which centuries of tribute and mountains of 
granite adorned by the master hands of art can never repay. And so long 
as liberty lasts and the love of liberty has a place in the hearts of men, 
they will be safe against the tooth of time and the fate of oblivion. 

"The nation is full of the graves of the dead. You have but a small 
fraction of them here in New York, althougli you contributed one- 
tenth of all the dead, one-tenth of all the dying, one-tenth of all the 
prisoners, one-tenth of all the sacrifices in that great conflict. You have 



Our Martyred President 259 

but a small number here; the greater number sleep in distant states, 
thousands and tens of thousands of them of whom there is no record. 
We only know that fighting for freedom and union they fell, and that 
the place .where they fell "was their sepulchre. The Omniscient One alone 
knows who they are and whence they came. But when their immortal 
names are called from their silent muster, when their names are spoken, 
the answer will come back, as it was the custom for many years in one 
of the French regiments when the name of De la Tour d'Auvergne was 
called, the answer came back, 'Di^d on the field of honor.' America has 
volumes of muster-rolls containing just such a record. 

"Mr. President and comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
our circle is narrowing with the passing years. Every annual roll-call 
discloses one. and another not present, but accounted for. There is a 
muster-roll over yonder as well as a muster-roll here. The majority of 
that vast army are fast joining the old commanders who have preceded 
them on that otlier shore. 

" 'They are gone who seemed so great — 

Gone ! but nothing can bereave them 
Of the force they made their own 

Being here ; and we believe them 
Something far advanced in state, 

And that they wear a truer crown 
Than any wreath that man can weave them. 

Speak no more of their renown, 
And in the vast cathedral leave them. 
God accept them; Christ receive them.' " 
Metropolitan Opera House, Nezv York, May jo, i8Sp. 

ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

"Mr. President, Citicens of Galena, Ladies and Gentlemen: — I cannot 
forbear at the outset to express to you the very great honor that I feel 
in being permitted to share with you, at the city of Galena, in the observ- 
ance of the seventy-first anniversary of the birth of that great soldier 
who once belonged to you, but now, as Stanton said to Lincoln, 'belongs 
to the ages.' No history of the war could be written without mentioning 
llie state of Illinois and city of Galena. They contributed the two most 
conspicuous names in the great civil conflict, the civil and military 
rulers — Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. No history of Ulysses 
S. Grant can be written without there coming unbidden from every lip 
the name Galena, and no faithful iMography of the great soldier will ever 
omit the name of his cherished friend. General John A. Rawlins, also a 



26o Life of William McKinley , 

I 

resident of your city, \ ou have a proud history ; Grant gave his sword I 
and his services to his country at Galena, and gave the country back to " 
the people at Appomattox, lie presided over the lirst Union meeting 
ever held in Galena, and he presided over the greatest Union meeting 
ever held beneath tlie flag at Appomattox. He was little known at the 
first meeting; the whole world knew him at the last. 

"We are not a nation of hero-worshipers. Our popular favorites 
are soon counted. With more than a hundred years of national life, 
crowded with great events and marked by mighty struggles, few of the 
great actors have more than survived the generation in which they lived, ^ 
Nor has the nation or its people been ungenerous to its great leaders, " 
whether as statesmen or soldiers. The republic has dealt justly, and I 
believe liberally, with its public men. Yet less than a score of them are 
remembered by the multitude, and the student of history only can call 
many of the most distinguished but now forgotten names. How few can 
recall the names of the presidents of the United States in the order of 
their administrations ; fewer still can name the governors of Illinois, and 
the United States senators who have represented this state in that great 
legislative body, 

"This distinguished citizen, whose life we commemorate, and the 
anniversary of whose birth we pause to celebrate to-day, was born at 
Point Pleasant, Clermont county, Ohio, on April 27, 1822, His early 
life was not eventful. It did not differ from that of most of the boys of 
his time, and gave no more promise than that of the multitude of youth 
of his age and station, either of the past or present. Of Scottish descent, 
he sprang from hum])le but industrious parents, and with faith and cour- 
age, with a will and mind for work, he confronted the problem of life, 

"At the age of seventeen he was sent as a cadet to the West Point 
Military Academy; his predecessor having failed to pass the necessary 
examination, the vacancy was filled by the appointment of young Grant. 
At the academy he was marked as a painstaking, studious, plodding, 
persistent pupil, who neither graduated at the head nor the foot of his 
class, but stood number twenty-one in a class of thirty-nine. His rank 
at graduation placed him in the infantry arm of the service, and in 1843 
he was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the Fourth United 
States Regulars. No qualities of an exceptional nature showed them- 
selves up to this point in the character of the young officer. 

"His first actual experience in war was in Mexico, Here he distin- 
guished himself, and was twice mentioned in general orders for his con- 
spicuous gallantry. He was twice brevetted by the President of the 
United States for heroic conduct at the battles of Monterey, Palo Alto, 
Resaca de la Palma, Chapultepec, and Molino del Rev. After the war 



Our Martyred President 261 

with Mexico he was stationed with his regiment on the northern frontier, 
and subsequently on the Pacific coast in Oregon and CaHfornia, in which 
latter station he saw much trying service with the Indians. On July 
31, 1854, he resigned his commission in the army, after eleven years' 
service therein — a service creditable to him in every particular, but in no 
sense so marked as to distinguish him from a score of others of equal 
rank and opportunity. 

"He was successful from the very beginning of his military command. 
His earliest, like his later blows, were tellingly disastrous to the enemy. 
First at Paducah, then defeating Polk and Pillow at Belmont; again at 
Fort Henry, which he captured. Then he determined to destroy Fort 
Donelson. and with rare coolness and deliberation he settled himself 
down to the task, which he successfully accomplished on February 16, 
1862. After two days of severe battle, 12,000 prisoners and their belong- 
ings fell into his hands, and the victory was sweeping and complete. He 
was immediately commissioned major-general of volunteers, in recogni- 
tion of his brilliant triumph, and at once secured the confidence of the 
president and trusting faith of the loyal North, while the men at the 
front turned their eyes hopefully to their coming commander. His 
famous dispatch to General Buckner, who had proposed commissioners 
to negotiate for capitulation — 'No terms except an unconditional and 
immediate surrender can be accepted ; I propose to move immediately 
upon your works' — electrified the country, and sent cheer to every loyal 
Iieart at home and to the brave defenders in the field. It sounded the note 
of confidence and victory, and gave to the Union cause and lovers of the 
Union new and fervent hope. It breathed conscious strength, disclosed 
immeasurable reserve power, and quickened the whole North to grander 
efforts and loftier patriotism for the preservation of the Union. 

"On March 17, 1864, a little more than three years from his departure 
from Galena, where he was drilling your local company as a simple cap- 
tain. Grant assumed the control of all the Federal forces, wherever 
located, and in less than fourteen months Lee's army, the pride and glory 
of the Confederate government, surrendered to tlie victorious soldier. 
Tt was not a surrender without resistance — skillful, dogged resistance. 
Tt was secured after many battles and fierce assaults, accompanied by 
indescribable toil and sufifering. and the loss of thousands of precious 
lives. The battles of the Wilderness, Spottsvlvania, North Anna and 
Cold Tlarbrir, and the siege of Petersburg, witnessed the hardest fighting 
and the severest sacrifices of the war. while the loss of brave men in the 
trenches was simply appalling. The historian has wearied in detailing 
them, and the painter's hand has palsied with reproducing the scenes of 
blood and carnage there enacted. General Grant not onlv directed the 



262 Life of William McKinley 

forces in front of Riclunond, but the entire linet)f operation of all our 
armies was under his skillful liand and was moved by his masterful mind. 
The entire field was the theater of his thought, and to his command all 
moved as a symmetrical whole, harmonious to one purpose, centering 
upon one grand design. In obedience to his orders, Sherman was march- 
ing, fighting, and winning victories with his splendid army in Georgia, 
extending our victorious banners farther and deeper into the heart of 
the Confederacy; and all the while the immortal Thomas was engaging 
the enemy in another part of the far-stretching field, diverting and 
defeating the only army which might successfully impede the triumphant 
march of Sherman to the sea. Sheridan, of whom General Grant said 
the only instruction he ever required was 'to go in,' was going into the 
Shenandoah Valley, that disputed field, the scene of Stonewall Jackson's 
fame. Here his dashing army, driving by storm and strategy the deter- 
mined forces of Early, sent them whirling back, stripped of laurels pre- 
viously won, without either their artillery or battle-flags. Scofield had 
done grand work at Franklin, and later occupied Wilmington and Golds- 
boro, on the distant seacoast, with a view to final connection with Sher- 
man. These movements, and more, absorbed the mind of the great 
commander. 

"The liberal terms given to Lee at Appomattox revealed in the breast 
of the hard fighter a soft and generous heart. He wanted no vengeance ; 
he had no bitterness in his soul ; he had no hates to avenge. He believed 
in war only as a means of peace. His large, brave, gentle nature made 
the surrender as easy to his illustrious foe as was possible. He said, 
with the broadest humanity : 'Take your horses and side-arms, all of 
your personal property and belongings, and go home, not to be disturbed, 
not to be punished for treason, not to be outcasts ; but go, cultivate the 
fields whereon you fought and lost. Yield faithful allegiance to the old 
flag and the restored Union, and obey the laws of peaoe.' Was ever such 
magnanimity before shown by victor to vanquished ? Here closed the 
great war, and with it the active military career of the great com- 
mander. 

"His civil administration covered eight years— two full terms as pres- 
ident of the United States. This new exaltation was not of his own 
asking. He preferred to remain general of the army with which he had 
been so long associated and in which he had acquired his great fame. 
The country, however, was determined that the successful soldier should 
be its civil ruler. The 103^,1! people felt that they owed him the highest 
honors which the nation could bestow, and they called him from the 
military to the civil head of the government. His term commenced in 
March, 1869, and ended in March, 1877. It constituted one of the 



Our Martyred President 263 

important periods of our national life. If the period of Washington's 
administration involved the formation of the Union, that of Grant's was 
confronted with its reconstruction, after the bitter, relentless, internal 
struggle to destroy it. It was a most delicate era in which to rule. It 
would have been difficult, embarrassing and hazardous to any man, no 
matter how gifted, or what his previous preparation or equipment might 
have been. Could any one have done better than he ? We will not pause 
to discuss. Different opinions prevail, and on this occasion we do not 
enter the field of controversy; but, speaking for myself, I believe he was 
exactly the man for the place, and that he filled to its full measure the 
trust to which his fellow citizens called him.' He committed errors. Who 
could have escaped them, at such a time and in such a place? He stood 
in his civil station battling for the legitimate fruits of the war, that they 
might be firmly secured to the living and to their posterity forever. His 
arm was never lifted against the right ; his soul abhorred the wrong. His 
veto of the inflation bill, his organization of the Geneva Arbitration Com- 
mission to settle the claims of the United States against England, his 
strong but conciliatory foreign policy, his constant care to have no policy 
against the will of the people, his enforcement of the constitution and 
its amendments in every part of the Republic, his maintenance of the 
credit of the government and its good faith at home and abroad, marked 
his administration as strong, wise, and patriotic. Great and wise as his 
civil administration was, however, the achievements which made him 'one 
of the immortal few whose names will never die' are found in his military 
career. Carping critics have sought to mar it, strategists have found 
flaws in it, but in the presence of his successive, uninterrupted, and unri- 
valed victories, it is the idlest chatter which none should heed. He was 
always ready to fight. If beaten to-day, he resumed battle on the mor- 
row, and his pathway was all along crowned with victories and surren- 
ders, which silence criticism, and place him side by side with the mighty 
soldiers of the world. 

"With no disparagement to others, two names rise above all the rest 
in American history since George Washington — transcendently above 
them. They are Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. Each will be 
remembered for what he did and accomplished for his race and for man- 
kind. Lincoln proclaimed liberty to four million slaves, and upon his 
act invited 'the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor 
of Almighty God.' He has received the warm approval of the one, and I 
am sure he is enjoying the generous benediction of the other. His was the 
greatest, mightiest stroke of the war. Grand on its humanity side, mas- 
terlv in its military aspect, it has given to his name an imperishable place 
among men. Grant gave irresistible power and efficacy to the Proclama- 



264 Life of William McKinley 

tion of Liberty. The iron shackles which Lincohi declared should be 
loosed from the limbs and souls of the black slaves, Grant with his 
matchless army melted and destroyed in the burning glories of the war ; 
and ihe rebels read the inspired decree in the flashing guns of his artil- 
lery, and they knew what Lincoln had decreed Grant would execute. 

"He had now filled the full measure of human ambition, and drunk 
from every fountain of earthly glory. He had commanded mighty legions 
on a hundred victorious fields. He had borne great responsibilities and 
exercised almost limitless power. He had executed every trust with 
fidelity, and, in the main, with consummate skill. He had controlled the 
movement of a larger army than had been commanded by any other sol- 
dier, the world over, since the invention of firearms. He was made 
general of the United States army by congress on July 25, 1866 — a rank 
and title never given to an American soldier before. He had won the 
lasting gratitude of his fellow countrymen, and whenever or wherever he 
went among them they crowned him with fresh manifestations of their 
love and veneration — and no reverses of fortune, no errors of judgment, 
no vexatious and unfortunate business complications ever shook their 
trustful confidence. When he sought rest in other lands, crowned heads 
stood uncovered in his presence and laid their trophies at his feet, while 
the struggling toiler, striving for a larger liberty, offered his earnest 
tribute to the great warrior who had made liberty universal in the Repub- 
lic. Everywhere he went grateful honors greeted him, and he was wel- 
comed as no American had been before. He girded the globe with his 
renown as he journeyed in the pathway of the sun. Nothing of human 
longing or aspiration remained unsatiated. He had enjoyed all the honors 
which his lavish countrymen could bestow, and had received the respectful 
homage of foreign nations. 

"His private life was beautiful in its purit}' and simplicity. No irrev- 
erent oath passed his lips, and liis conversation was as chaste aUd unaf- 
fected as that of simple childhood. His relations with his family -were 
tender and affectionate. 

"Only a few years ago, in one of his journeys through the South, 
when he was recei^^ing a great ovation, some colored men crowded his 
hotel to look into tlie face and to grasp the hand of their great deliverer. 
To this intrusion ol)jection was made, and the colored men were about 
to be ejected, when the general apj^eared, and in his quiet way, full of 
earnest feeling, said : 'Where T am they sh.all come also.' He believed 
in the brotherhood of man — in the ])olitical erjualitv of all men — he had 
secured tliat with his sword, and was prompt to recognize it in all places 
and everywhere. 

"But, my friends, Death had marked him for a victim. He fought 



Our Martyred President 265 

Death with his iron will and his old-time courage, but at last yielded, the 
first and only time the great soldier was ever vanquished. He had routed 
every other foe, he had triumphed over every other enemy, but this last 
one conquered him, as in the end he conquers all. He, however, stayed 
his fatal hand long enough to permit Grant to finish the last great work 
of his life — to write the history he had made. True, that history had been 
already written — written in blood, in the agony of the dying and in the 
tears of the suffering nation ; written in the hearts of her patriotic people. 
The ready pens of others had told more than a thousand times the match- 
less story ; the artist had, a hundred times, placed upon canvas the soul- 
stirring scenes in wliich Grant w^as the central figure; the sculptor had 
cut its every phase in enduring marble, yet a kind Providence mercifully 
spared him a few months longer, that he who had seen it and directed it 
should sum up the great work wrought by the grand army of the Repub- 
lic under his magic guidance. He was not an old man when he died; 
but, after all. what a complete life was his! 

"Miglity events and mightier achievements were never crowded into a 
single life before, and he lived to place them in enduring form, to be read 
by the millions living and the millions yet unborn. Then laying down 
his pen, he bowed resignedly before the Angel of Death, saying: Tf it 
is God's providence that I shall go now^ I am ready to obey His will with- 
out a murmur.' Great in life, majestic in death ! He needs no monument 
to perpetuate his fame; it will live and glow with increased luster so long- 
as lil)erty lasts and the love of liberty has a ])lace in the hearts of men. 
Every soldier's monument throughout the North, now standing or here- 
after to be erected, will record his worth and work, as well as those of 
the brave men who fought by his side. His most lasting memorial will 
be the work he did, his most enduring monument the Union whicli he 
and his heroic associates saved, and the i)riceless liberty they secured. 

"Surrounded by a devoted family, with a mind serene and a heart 
resigned, he passed over to join his fallen comrades beyond the river, on 
another field of glory. Above him in his chamber of sickness and death 
hung tlie portraits of Washington and Lincoln, w^hose disembodied spirits 
in the Eternal City were watching and waiting for him who w^as to com- 
plete the immortal trio of America's first and best beloved ; and as the 
eartlily scenes receded from his view, and the celestial appeared, I can 
imagine those were the first to greet his sight and bid him welcome. 

"We are not a nation of hero-worshii)crs. We are a nation of 
generous freemen. We bow in affectionate reverence and with most 
grateful hearts to these immortal names. \\'ashington. Lincoln, and 
Grant, and will guard with sleepless vigilance their mighty w^ork and 
cherish their memories evermore. 



266 Life of William McKinley 

" 'They were the luster lights of their day, 
The . . . giants 
Who clave the darkness asunder 
And beaconed us where we are.' " 
Galena, III., April J/, iSps, Grant's Birthday. 

ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE GRANT 
MONUAIENT. 

"a great life, dedicated to the welfare of the nation, here finds 
its earthly coronation." 

"A great life, dedicated to the welfare of the nation, here finds its 
early coronation. Even if this day lacked the impress! veness of cere- 
mony, and was devoid of pageantry, it would still be memorable, because 
it is the anniversary of the birth of one of the most famous and best 
beloved of American soldiers. 

"Architecture" has paid high trilnite to the leaders of mankind, l)ut 
never was a memorial more worthily bestowed or more gratefully accepted 
by a free people than the beautiful structure before which we are gathered. 

'Tn marking the successful completion of this work we have as wit- 
nesses and participants representatives of all branches of our government, 
the resident officials of foreign nations, the governors of states, and the 
sovereign people from every section of our common country, who join in 
this august tribute to the soldier, patriot and citizen. 

FIRST TO BE CALLED. 

"Almost twelve years have passed since the heroic vigil ended and 
the brave spirit of Ulysses S. Grant fearlessly took its flight. Lincoln 
and Stanton had preceded him, but of the mighty captains of the war 
Grant was the first to be called. Sherman and Sheridan survived him, but 
have since joined him on the other shore. 

"The great heroes of the civil strife on land and sea are for the most 
part now no more. Thomas and Hancock, Logan and McPherson, Far- 
ragut, Dupont and Porter, and a host of others, have passed forever from 
human sight. Those remaining grow dearer to us, and from them and 
the memory of those who have departed generations yet unborn will draw 
their inspiration and gather strength for patriotic purpose. 

"A great life never dies. Great deeds are imperishable; great names 
immortal. Gen. Grant's services and character will continue undimin- 
ished in influence and advance in the estimation of mankind so long as 
liberty remains the corner-stone of free government and integrity of life 
the guaranty of good citizenship. 



Our Martyred President 267 

FEARLESS AS A SOLDIER. 

"Faithful and fearless as a volunteer soldier, intrepid and invincible 
as commander in chief of the armies of the Union, calm and confident as 
president of a reunited and strengthened nation which his genius had 
been instrumental in achieving, he has our homage and that of the world ; 
but, brilliant as was his public character, we love him all the more for his 
home life and homely virtues. His individuality, his bearing and speech, 
his simple ways, had a flavor of rare and unique distinction, and his 
Americanism was so true and uncompromising that his name will stand 
for all time as the embodiment of liberty, loyalty and national unity. 

Victorious in the work which under Divine Providence he was called 
upon to do, clothed with almost limitless power, he was yet one of the 
people — patient, patriotic and just. Success did not disturb the even 
balance of his mind, while fame was powerless to swerve him from the 
path of duty. Great as he was in war, he loved peace and told the world 
that honorable arbitration of differences was the best hope of civilization. 

"With Washington and Lincoln, Grant has an exalted place in his- 
tory and the affections of the people. Today his memory is held in equal 
esteem by those whom he led to victory and by those who accepted his 
generous terms of peace. The veteran leaders of the blue and the gray 
here meet not only to honor the name of the departed Grant, but to testify 
to the living reality of a fraternal national spirit which has triumphed 
over the differences of the past and transcended the limitations of sec- 
tional lines. Its completion, which we pray God to speed, will be the 
nation's greatest glory. 

FITTING RESTING PLACE. 

"It is right, then, that Gen. Grant should have a memorial commen- 
surate with his greatness, and that his last resting place should be the 
city of his choice, to which he was so attached in life and of whose ties 
he was not forgetful even in death. Fitting, too, is it that the great 
soldier should sleep beside the native river on whose banks he first learned 
the art of war and of which he became master and leader without a rival. 

"But let us not forget the glorious distinction with which the metrop- 
olis among the fair sisterhood of American cities has honored his life and 
memory. With all that riches and sculpture can do to render the edifice 
worthy of the man, uj^on a site unsurpassed for magnificence, has this 
monument been reared by New York as a perpetual record of his illus- 
trious deeds in the certainty that as time passes around it will assemble 
with gratitude and reverence and veneration men of all climes, races and 
nationalities. 



268 Life of William McKinley 

"New York holds in its keeping the precious dust of the silent soldier ; 
but his achievements — which he and his brave comrades wrought for 
mankind — are in the keeping of seventy millions of i\merican citizens 
who will p'uard the sacred heritao-e forever and forevermore." 



JOHN A. LOGAN. 

"Mr. Speaker: — A great citizen who filled high public stations for 
more than a cjuarter of a century has passed away, and the House of Rep- 
resentatives turns aside from its usual public duties that it may place in 
its permanent and official record a tribute to his memory, and manifest 
in some degree its appreciation of his lofty character and illustrious 
services. General Logan was a conspicuous figure in war, and scarcely 
less conspicuous in peace. Whether on the field of arms or in the forum 
where ideas clash, General Logan was ever at the front. 

"Mr. Speaker, he was a leader of men, having convictions, with the 
courage to utter and enforce them in any place and to defend them 
against any adversary. He was never long in the rear among the fol- 
lowers. Starting there, his resolute and resistless spirit soon impressed 
itself upon his fellows, and he was quickly advanced to his true and 
rightful rank of leadership. Without the aid of fortune, without the aid 
of influential friends, he won his successive stations of honor by the 
f(M-ce of his own integrity and industry, his own high character and 
indomitable will. And it may be said of him that he justly represents 
one of the best types of American manhood, and illustrates in his life 
the outcome and the possibilities of the American youth under the gen- 
erous influences of our free institutions. 

"Participating in two wars, the records of both attest his courage 
and devotion, his valor, and his sacrifices for the country which he loved 
so well, and to which he more tlian once dedicated everything he pos- 
sessed, even life itself. Reared a democrat, he turned away from many 
of the old party leaders when the trying crisis came which was to deter- 
mine whether the Union was to be saved or to be severed. He joined 
his old friend and party leader, Stephen A. Douglas, with all the ardor 
of his strong nature, and the safety and preservation of the Union became 
the overshadowing and absorbing pur]:)ose of his life. His creed was his 
country. Patriotism was the sole plank in his jjlatform. Everything 
must yield to this sentiment; every other consideration was subordinate 
to it; and so he threw the whole force of his gr^at char.ncter at tlie 
very outset into the struggle ior national life. He resigned his seat in 
congress to raise a regiment, and it is a noteworthy fact that in the 
congressional district which he represented more soldiers were sent to 
the front according to its population than in any other congressional 



Our Martyred President 269 

district in the United States. It is a further significant fact, that, in i860, 
when he ran fur congress as a democratic candidate, in what was known 
as the old Ninth Congressional District, he received a majority of over 
13,000; and six years afterward, wiien at the conchision of the war he 
ran as a candidate of the repnbhcan party in the slate of llHnois as 
representative to congress at large,, the same old Ninth District, that 
had given him a democratic majority of 13,000 in i860, gave him a 
republican majority of over 3,000 in 1866. Whatever else these facts 
may teach, Air. Speaker, they clearly show one thing — that John A. 
Logan's old constituency approved of his course, was proud of his illus- 
trious services, and followed the flag which he bore, wdiich was the 
Flag of the Stars. 

"His service in this house and in the senate, almost uninterruptedly, 
since 1867. was marked by great industry, by rugged honesty, by devo- 
tion to the interests of the country, and to the whole country, to the rights 
of the citizen, and es])ecially by a devotion to the interests of his late 
comrades-in-arms. He was a strong and forcible debater. He was a 
most thorough master of the subjects he discussed, and an intense 
believer in the polic}' and princii)les he advocated. In popular discussion 
uj^on the hustings he had no superiors, and but few equals. He seized 
the hearts and the consciences of men, and moved great multitudes with 
that fury of enthusiasm with which he moved his soldiers in the field. 

"Air. Speaker, it is high tribute to any man, it is high tribute to 
John A. Logan, to say that, in the House of Representatives, where sat 
Thaddeus Stevens and Robert C. Schenck, James G. Blaine and James A. 
Garfield, Henry Winter Davis and William D. Kelley, he stood equal 
in favor and in power in party control. And it is equally high tribute to 
him to say that in the senate of the United States, where sat Charles 
Sumner and Oliver P. Alorton. Hanibal Hamlin and Zachariah Chandler, 
John Sherman and George F. Edmunds, Roscoe Conkling and Justin S. 
Morrill, he fairly di\'ided with them the power and responsibility of repub- 
lican leadership. No higher eulogy can be given to any man, no more 
honorable distinction could be coveted. He lived during a period of 
very great activities and forces, and he impressed himself upon his age 
and time. To me the dominant and controlling force in his life was his 
intense patriotism. 

"It stamped all his acts and utterances, and was the chief inspiration 
of the great work he wrought. His book, recently published, is a 
masterly appeal to the patriotism of the people. His death, so sudden 
and unlooked for, was a shock to his countrymen, and caused universal 
sorrow among all classes in every part of the Union. No class so deeply 
mourned his taking away as the great volunteer army and their surviving 



270 Life of William McKinley 

families and friends. They were closely related to him. They regarded 
him as their never-failing friend. He had been first commander-in-chief 
of the Grand Army of the Republic, and to him this mighty soldier 
organization, numbering more than four hundred thousand, was indebted 
for much of its efficiency in the field of charity. He was the idol of the 
army in which he served — the ideal citizen volunteer of the Republic, the 
pride of all the armies, and affectionately beloved by all who loved the 
Union. 

"Honored and respected by his commanders, held in affectionate 
regard by the rank and file, who found in him a heroic leader and devoted 
friend, he advocated the most generous bounties and pensions, and much 
of this character of legislation was constructed by his hand. So in 
sympathy was he with the brave men who risked all for country, that 
he demanded for them the most generous treatment. I heard him declare 
last summer, to an audience of ten thousand people, gathered from all 
sections of the country, at the annual encampment of the Grand Army 
of the Republic at San Francisco, that he believed that the government 
should grant from its overflowing treasury and boundless resources a 
pension to every Union soldier who was incapable of taking care of 
himself, asserting with all the fervor of his patriotic soul that the gov- 
ernment was unworthy of itself and of the blood and treasure it cost 
if it would suffer any of its defenders to become inmates of the poor- 
houses of the land, or be the objects of private charity. 

"Mr. Speaker, the old soldiers will miss him. The old oak around 
which their hearts were entwined, to which their hopes clung, has fallen. 
The old veterans have lost their steady friend. The congress of the 
United States has lost one of its ablest counselors, the republican party 
one of its confessed leaders, the country one of its noble defenders." — 
House of Representatives, February 10, i88y. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

William McKinley's Masterpieces of Eloquence. 

Continued. 

JULY FOURTH AT WOODSTOCK. 

"Mr. President and my Fellow Citizens: — Since 1870 this spot has 
witnessed the celebration of the anniversary of our national independence. 
They have been memurable occasions. It gives me peculiar pleasure to 
meet the people of New England upon this day, and upon this ground, 
and especially is it pleasing to me to respond for the first time that I have 
been able to do so to the many generous invitations that I have received 
from Mr. Bowen, to whom you and all of us are indebted for this patriotic 
assemblage. I have liked Henry C. Bowen for a good many things. I 
have admired him since more than forty years ago, when, in the midst 
of great political agitation as a merchant of the city of New York, he 
said: 'Our goods are for sale, but not our principles.' It was this 
spirit that guided the revolutionary fathers, and that has won for free- 
dom every single victory since. 

"Now, what is the meaning of this day and celebration? Simply that 
what we have achieved nuist be perpetrated in its strength and purity, not 
giving up one jot or tittle of the victories won. More we do not ask, 
less we will not have. There never was a wrong for which there was not 
a remedy. There never w^as a crime against the constitution that there 
was not a way somewhere and somehow found to prevent or punish ; 
there never was such an abuse that did not suggest a reform that pointed 
to justice and righteousness. I am not so much troubled how the thing 
is to be done as I am troubled that the living shall do what is right, as 
the living see the right. The future will take care of itself if we will do 
right. As Gladstone said in his peroration presenting the remedial 
legislation of Ireland : 

"'Walking in the path of justice we can not err; guided by that 
light we are safe. Every step we take upon our road brings us nea^'cr 
to the goal, and every obstacle, though it seem for the moment insur- 
mountable, can only for a little while retard, never defeat, the fatal 
triumph.' 

"The Fourth of July is memorable among other things because 



272 Life of William McKinley 

George Washington signed the first great industrial measure on that 
day. The very first industrial financial measure that was ever passed 
in the United States was signed by him on the 4th day of July, 1789, 
and therefore J did not ihink there was any impropriety in Senator 
Aldrich talking about the tariff on this day and occasion. It would 
not hit proper for me to make a tariff speech here, although it has been 
suggested, but 1 may say with propriety, I am always for the United 
States. 1 believe in the American idea of liberty, so ekxjuently descril)ed 
by Chauncey Depew this morning. I believe in American independence, 
— not only political independence, but industrial independence as weh ; 
and if I were asked to tell in a single sentence what constitutes the 
strength of the American Repuljlic, I wT)uld say it was the American 
home, and whatever makes the American home the best, the i)urest. and 
the most exalted in the world. It is our homes which exalt the coun- 
try and its citizenship al)ovc those of any other land. I have no objec- 
tion to foreign i)roducts. Init I do hke home ])roducts better. I am not 
against the foreign product, T am in favor of it — for taxation; but I 
am for the domestic prochiction for consumption. 

"In no country is there so much devolving upon the people relating 
to government as in ours. Unhke any other nation, here the people 
rule, and their will is supreme law. It is sometimes sneeringly said by 
those who do not like free government, that here we count heads. True, 
heads are counted, but brains also. And the general sense of sixty-three 
millions of free people is better and safer than the sense of any favored 
few, born to nol)ihty and ruling by inheritance. Tliis nation, if it would 
continue to lead in the race of progress and liberty, must do it through 
the intelligence and conscience of its people. Every honest and God- 
fearing man is a mighty factor in the future of the Republic. Educated 
men, 1:)usiness men, professional men, should be the last to shirk the 
responsibihties attaching to citizenship in a free government. They 
should be practical and helpful — mingling with the people — not selfish 
and exclusive. It is not necessary that every man should enter into 
politics, or adojit it as a profession, or seek political preferment, but 
it is tlie duty of every man to give personal attention to his political 
duties. They are as sacred and binding as any we have to perform. 

"We reach the wider field of politics and shape the national policy 
through tlie town meeting and the j)arty caucus. They should neither 
be despised nor avoided, but made potent in securing the best agents 
for executing the popular will. The influence which goes forth from 
the township or precinct meeting is felt in state and national legisla- 
tion, and is at last embodied in the permanent forms of law and written 
constitutions. I can not too earnestly invite you to the closcbt personal 




ASSASSINATION SCENE 



Our Martyred President 273 

attention to party and political caucuses and the primary meetings of 
your respective parties. They constitute that which goes to make up, 
at last, the popular will. They lie at the basis of all true reform. It 
will not do to hold yourself aloof from politics and parties. If the 
party is wrong, make it better; that's the business of the true partisan 
and good citizen, for whatever reforms any of us may hope to accom- 
plish must come through united party and political action." — Wood- 
stock, Conn., July 4, i8pi. 

BUSINESS MAN IN POLITICS. 

"Interest in public affairs, national, state and city, should be ever 
present and active, and not abated from one year's end to the other. 
No American citizen is too great and none too humble to be exempt 
from any civic duty however subordinate. Every public duty is honor- 
able. 

"This menace often comes from the busy man or man of business 
and sometimes from those possessing the most leisure or learning. I 
have known men engaged in great commercial enterprises to leave 
home on the eve of an election, and then complain of the result, when 
their presence and the good influence they might properly have exerted 
would have secured a different and better result. They run away from 
one of the most sacred obligations in a government like ours, and con- 
fide to those with less interest involved and less responsibility to the 
community, th5 duty which should be shared by them. What we need 
is a revival of the true spirit of popular government, the true American 
spirit where all — not the few — participate actively in government. We 
need a new baptism of patriotism, and, suppressing for the time our sev- 
eral religious views upon the subject, I think we will all agree that the 
baptism should be by immersion. There can not be too much patriot- 
ism. It banishes distrust and treason, and anarchy flees before it. It 
is a sentiment which enriches our individual and national life. It is the 
firmament of our power, the security of the Republic, the bulwark of 
our liberties. It makes better citizens, better cities, a better country, 
and a better civilization. 

"The business life of the country is so closely connected with its 
political life that the one is much influenced by the other. Good pol- 
itics is good business. Mere partisanship no longer controls the cit- 
izen and country. Men who think alike, although heretofore acting jeal- 
ously apart, are now acting together, and no longer permit former party 
associations to keep them from co-operating for the public good. They 
are more and more growing into the habit of doing in politics what they 
do in business. 

18 



274 Life of William McKinley 

"The general situation of the country demands of the business men, 
as well as the masses of the people, the most serious consideration. We 
must have less partisanship of a certain kind, more business, and a better 
national spirit. We need an aggressive partisanship for country. There- 
are some things upon which we are all agreed. We must have enough 
money to run the government. We must not have our credit tarnished 
and our reserve depleted because of pride of opinion, or to carry out 
some economic theory unsuited to our conditions, citizenship, and ci\ - 
ilization. The outflow of gold will not disturb us if the inflow of gold 
is large enough. The outgo is not serious if the income exceeds it. 
False theories should not be pernu"tted to stand in the way of cold facts. 
The resources which have been developed and the wealth which has 
been accumulated, in the last third of a century in the United States, 
must not be impaired or diminished or wasted by the application of 
theories of the dreamer or doctrinaire. Business experience is the best 
lamp to guide us in the pathway of progress and prosperity."— C7i(//;//;,v- 
of Commerce, Rochester, N. ¥., Feb. i^, 1895. 

ADDRESS AT THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI EXPOSITION AT OMAHA, NEBRASKA, 

OCTOBER 12, 1898. 

"Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, and 
Fellow Lit ij:ens:— It is with genuine pleasure that I meet once more 
the people of Omaha, whose wealth of welcome is not ^altogether un- 
famdiar to me, and whose warm hearts have before touched and moved 
me. For this renewed manifestation of your regard, and for the cordial 
reception of to-day, my heart responds with profound gratitude and a 
deep appreciation which I cannot conceal, and which the languao-e of 
compliment is inadequate to convey. My greeting is not alone'' to^'your 
city and state of Nebraska, but to the people of all the states of the 
frans-Mississippi group participating here, and I cannot withhold con- 
gratulations^ on the evidences of their prosperity furnished by this 
great exposition. If testimony were needed to establish the fact that 
their pluck has not deserted them, and that prosperity is again with 
them, it is found here. This picture dispels all doubt. [Applause.] I 

"In an age of expositions they have added yet another magnificent 
example. [Applause.] The historical celebrations at Philadelphia and ,. 
Chicago, and the splendid exhibits at New Orleans, Atlanta and Nash- ^ 
ville, are now part of the past, and yet in influence they still live, and '' 
their beneficent results are closely interwoven with our national devel- 
opment. Similar rewards will honor the authors and patrons of the 
Trans-Mississippi and International Fxposition. Their contribution will 
mark another epoch in the nation's material advancement. 



Our Martyred President 27c 

"One of the great laws of life is progress, and nowhere have the 
principles of this law been so strikingly illustrated as in the United 
States. A century and a decade of our rational life have turned doubt 
into conviction, changed experiment into demonstration, revolutionized 
old methods, and won new triumphs which have challenged the atten- 
ti(ni of the world. This is true n(jt only of the accumulation of mate- 
rial wealth, and advance in education, science, invention and manu- 
factures, but. above all. in the opportunities to the people for their own 
elevation, which have l)een secured by wise free government. 

"Hitherto, in peace and in war, with additions to our territory and 
slight changes in our laws, we have steadily enforced the spirit of the 
constitution secured to us by the noble self-sacrifice and far-seeing 
sagacity of our ancestors. \\'e have avoided the temptations of coii^ 
quest in the spirit of gain. With an increasing love for our institu- 
tions and an abiding faith in their stability, we have made the triumphs 
of our system of government in the progress and the prosperity of our 
people an inspiration to the whole human race. [Applause.] Con- 
fronted at this moment by new and grave problems, we must recognize 
that their solution will affect not ourselves alone, but others of the "fam- 
ily of nations. 

"In this age of frequent interchange and mutual dependence, we 
cannot shirk our international responsibilities if we would; they must 
be met with courage and wisdom, and we must follow duty even if 
desire opposes. [Applause.] No deliberation can be too mature, or 
self-control too constant, in this solemn hour of our history. We must 
a\-oid the temptation of aggression, and aim to secure only such results 
as will promote our own and the general good. 

"Lt has been said by some one that the normal condition of nations 
IS war. That is not true of the United States. We never enter upon 
a war until every effort for peace without it has been exhausted. ' Ours 
has never been a military government. Peace, with whose blessings 
we have been so singularly favored, is the national desire and the goal 
of every American aspiration. [Applause.] 

"On the 25th of April, for the first time for more than a genera- 
tion, the United States sounded the call to arms. The banners of war 
were unfurled: the best and bravest from every section responded- a 
miglity army was enrolled; the North and the South vied with each other 
in patriotic devotion [great applause] ; science was invoked to furnish 
Its most effective weapons ; factories were rushed to supply equipment ; 
the youth and the veteran joined in freely offering their services to 
their country; volunteers and regulars and all the people rallied to the 
support of the republic. There was no break in the line, no halt in 



276 Life of William McKinley 

the march, no fear in the heart [great applause] ; no resistance to the 
patriotic impulse at home ; no successful resistance to the patriotic spirit 
of the troops fighting in distant water or on a foreign shore. [Continued 
applause.] 

"What a wonderful experience it has been from the standpoint of 
patriotism and achievement! The storm broke so suddenly that it was 
here almost before we realized it. Our navy was too small, though 
forceful with its modern equipment, and most fortunate in its trained 
officers and sailors. 

Our army had years ago been reduced to a peace footing. We had 
only 28,000 available troops when the war was declared, but the account 
which officers and men gave of themselves on the battlefield has never 
been surpassed. The manhood was there and everywhere. American 
patriotism was there, and its resources were limitless. The courageous 
and invincible spirit of the people proved glorious, and those who a 
little more than a third of a century ago were divided and at war with 
each other were again united under the holy standard of liberty. 
[Great applause.] Patriotism banished party feeling; $50,000,000 for 
the national defense were appropriated without debate or division, as a 
matter of course and as only a mere indication of our mighty reserve 
power. [Great applause.] 

"But if this is true of the beginning of the war, what shall we say 
of it now, with hostilities suspended, and peace near at hand, as we 
fervently hope? Matchless in its results! [Great applause] Un- 
equaled in its completeness and the quick succession with which vic- 
tory followed victory! Attained earlier than it was believed to be pos- 
sible ; so comprehensive in its sweep that every thoughtful mail feels 
the weight of responsibility which has been so suddenly thrust upon 
us;. And above all and beyond all, the valor of the American army 
and the bravery of the American navy and the majesty of the Amer- 
ican name stand forth in unsullied glory, while the humanity of our 
purposes and the magnanimity of our conduct have given to war, al- 
ways horrible, touches of noble generosity, Christian sympathy and 
charity, and examples of human grandeur which can never be lost to 
mankind. [Prolonged applause.] Passion and bitterness formed no 
part of our impelling motive, and it is gratif3nng to feel that humanity 
triumphed at every step of the war's progress. [Applause.] 

"The heroes of Manila and Santiago and Porto Rico have made 
immortal history. They are worthy successors and descendants of 
Washington and Greene; of Paul Jones, Decatur and Hull, and of 
Grant, Sheridan, Sherman and Logan ; of Farragut, Porter and Gush- 
ing, of Lee, Jackson and Longstreet. [Tremendous applause.] 



Our Martyred President 277 

"New names stand out on the honor roll of the nation's great men 
[applause], and with them, unnamed, stand the heroes of the trenches 
and the forecastle, invincible in battle and uncomplaining in death. 
[Great applause.] The intelligent, loyal, indomitable soldier and sailor 
and marine, regular and volunteer, are entitled to equal praise as hav- 
ing done their whole duty, whether at home or under the baptism of 
foreign fire. [Applause.] 

"Who will dim the splendor of their achievements? Who will 
withhold from them their well-earned distinction? Who will intrude 
detraction at this time to belittle the manly spirit of the American 
youth and impair the usefulness of the American army? Who will em- 
barrass the government by sowing seeds of dissatisfaction among the 
bra\'e men who stand ready to serve and die, if need be, for their coun- 
try? Who will darken the counsels of the republic in this hour, re- 
quiring the united wisdom of all ? [Cheers and prolonged applause.] 

"Shall we deny to ourselves what the rest of the world so freely 
and so justly accords to us? [General cry of 'No!'] The men who 
endured in the short but decisive struggle its hardships, its privations, 
whether in field or camp, on ship or in the siege, and planned and 
achieved its victories, will never tolerate impeachment, either direct or 
indirect, of those who won a peace whose great gain to civilization is 
yet unknown and unwritten. [Tremendous applause.] 

"The faith of a Christian nation recognizes the hand of Almighty God 
in the ordeal through which we have passed. Divine favor seemed mani- 
fest everywhere. In fighting for humanity's sake we have been signally 
•blessed. We did not seek war. To avoid it, if this could be done in 
honor and justice to the rights of our neighbors and ourselves, was 
our constant prayer. The war was no more invited by us than were 
the questions which are laid at our door by its results. [Great ap- 
plause.] Now as then we will do our duty. [Continued applause.] 
The problems will not be solved in a day. Patience will be required 
— patience combined with sincerity of purpose and unshaken resolu- 
tion to do right, seeking only the highest good of the nation, and recog- 
nizing no other obligation, pursuing no other path, but that of duty. 

"Right action folUnvs right purpose. We may not at all times be 
able to divine the future, the way may not always seem clear; Init if 
our aims are high and unselfish, somehow and in some way the right 
end will be reached. The genius of the nation, its freedom, its wis- 
dom, its humanity, its courage, its justice, favored by divine Providence, 
will make it er|ual to every task and the master of every emergency." 
[Long continued applause.] 



278 Life of William M^cKinley 

SPEECH IN TPIE COLISEUM, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, OCTOBER I4, 1 898. 

"My Fellow Citizens: — My former visits to St. Louis are full of 
pleasant memories. My present one I shall never forget. It has warmed 
my heart and given me encouragement for greater effort to admin- 
ister the trust which I hold for my country. My first visit was in 1888, 
and then again in 1892, both of which afforded me an opportunity of 
becoming acquainted with your people, and of observing the substan- 
tial character of your enterprising city. I omitted my quadrennial 
visit in 1896 for reasons which were obvious to you, and have always 
been thankful that my absence seemed to have created no prejudice in 
your minds. [Laughter and applause.] 

"I remember, on the occasion of a former visit, in company with 
Governor Francis and other citizens, to have witnessed the assembled 
pupils of the schools of the city at your great fair. It was an inspiring 
sight, and it has never been effaced from my recollection. As I looked 
mto the thousands of young faces of the boys and the girls, preparing 
themselves for citizenship, I had my faith confirmed in the stability of 
our institutions. [Applause.] I saw them to-day as I drove about 
your city with the flag in their hands, and heard their voices ringing 
with the song we love — 

" 'My country, 'tis of thee. 
Sweet land of liberty.' 
To the youth of the country trained in the schools, which happily are 
opened to all, must we look to carry forward the fabric of govern- 
ment. It is fortunate for us that our republic appeals to the best and 
noblest aspirations of its citizens, and makes all things possible to the 
worthy and industrious youth. 

"The personal interest and participation of our citizenship in the 
conduct of the government make its condition always absorbing and 
interesting. 

"It must be a matter of great gratification to the people of the 
United States to know tliat the national credit was never better than 
now, while the national name was never dearer to us, and never more 
respected by others the world over. For the first time in the country's 
history the government has sold a 3 per cent bond, every dollar of 
which was taken at par. This bond is now at a premium of 5 cents 
on the dollar; and the profit has gone to the people. [Applause.] 
The loan was a popular one. and it has been a source of much satisfac- 
tion that the people, with their surplus savings, were able to buy the 
bonds. It is an interesting fact that while we offered two hundred mil- 
lions of bonds for sale, over fourteen hundred millions were subscribed 



Our Martyred President 279 

by the people of the country, and by the terms of sale no one was able to 
receive bonds in excess of $5,000. [Applause.] 

"It is not without signihcance, too, that the government has not 
been required, since 1896, to borrow any money for its current obliga- 
tions until the war with Spain, while its available balance, October 
I, 1898, was upward of three hundred and seven million, of which sum 
over two hundred and forty-three millions were in gold. Nothing 
more impressed the nations of the world than the appropriation of a 
large national defense fund which the treasury was able to pay from 
its balance, without resort to a loan. While the credit and fmance of 
the government have improved, the business conditions of the people 
have also happily improved. We are more cheerful, more happy, more 
c intented. Both government and citizens have shared in the general 
prosperity. The circulation of the country on the ist of July, 1898, 
was larger than it had ever been before in our history. It is not so 
large to-day as then, but the reason for it is that the people put a part 
of that circulation in the treasury to meet the government bonds which 
they hold in their hands. 

"The people have borne the additional taxation made necessary 
by the war with the same degree of patriotism that characterized the 
soldiers who enlisted to fight the country's battles. [Applause.] We 
ha\e not only prospered in every material sense, but we have estab- 
lished a sentiment of good feeling and a spirit of brotherhood such as 
the nation has not enjoyed since the earlier years of its history. My 
oiuntrymen, not since the beginning of the agitation of the question 
of slavery has there been such a common bond in name and purpose, 
such genuine affection, such a unity of the sections, such obligation of 
party and geographical divisions. National pride has been again en- 
throned; national patriotism has been restored; the national Union 
cemented closer and stronger; the love for the old flag enshrined in all 
hearts. North and South have mingled their best blood in a common 
cause, and to-day rejoice in a common victory. [Great applause.] 
Happily for the nation to-day, they follow the same glorious banner, 
together fighting and dying under its sacred folds for American honor 
and for the humanity of the race. [Loud and prolonged applause.] 

"We must guard this restored Union with zealous and sacred care, 
and, while awaiting the settlements of the war and meeting the prob- 
lems which will follow, we must stand as Americans, not in the spirit 
of party, and unite in a common effort for that which will give to the 
nation its widest influence in the sphere of activity and usefulness to 
which the war has assigned it. My fellow citizens, let nothing dis- 
tract us : let no discordant voice intrude to embarrass us in the solution 
of the mighty problems which involve such vast consequences to our- 



28o Life of William McKinley 

selves and posterity. Let us remember that God bestows supreme oppor- 
tunity upon no nation which is not ready to respond to the call of supreme 
duty. [Prolonged applause.] 

SPEECH AT FIRST REGIMENT ARMORY, CHICAGO, BEFORE THE ALLIED 
ORGANIZATIONS OF RAILROAD EMPLOYEES, OCTOBER 20, 1 898. 

''Mr. Clminnau, Ladies and Gentlemen:— I count myself fortunate 
to have the privilege of meeting with the allied railroad organizations 
assembled m this great metropolis. I have had in the last ten days 
very many most interesting and pleasant experiences, as I have jour- 
neyed through the country; but I assure you that none of them Jias 
given me greater pleasure than to meet the men and the women con- 
nected with the operation of the great railroads of the country It 
is fortunate, too, that this body of representative men and women 
should have assembled in this city at a time when the people are cel- 
ebrating the suspension of hostilities, and their desire for an honor- 
able and just and triumphant peace. The railroad men of the coun- 
try have always been for the country; the railroad men of the country 
have always been for the flag of the country; and in every crisis , 
of our national history, in war or in peace, the men from your o-reat i 
organizations have been loyal and faithful to every duty and oblio-a- : 
tion. [Applause.] "^ ! 

"Yours is at once a profession of great risk and of great responsi- I 
bihty. I know of no occupation in the field of human endeavor that I 
carries with it graver obligations and higher responsibilities than that i 
of the men who sit about me to-day. You transport the commerce L 
of the country; you carry its rich treasures from the Atlantic to the "i 
Pacific; and you carry daily and hourly the freightage of humanity 
that trust you, trust your integrity, your intelligence, your fidelity 
for the safety of their lives and of their loved ones. And I congratu- 
late the country that in this system, so interwoven with the everyday 
life of the citizen and the republic, we have men of such splendid char- 
acter and ability and intelligence. 

•'I bring to you to-day not only my good will, but the good will 
and respect of seventy-five millions of American citizens. Your work 
IS ever before a critical public. You go in and out every day before 
your countrymen, and you have earned from them deserved and un- 
stinted praise for your fidelity to the great interests of the people whom 
you serve and of the roads which you operate. 

"The virtue of the people lies at the foundation of the republic. The 
power of the republic is in the American fireside. The virtue that 
comes out from the holy altar of home is the most priceless gift this 



Our Martyred President 281 

nation has; and when the judgments of the people are spoken through 
the homes of the people, they command the congress and the executive, 
and at last crystallize into public law. 

"1 thank you, my fellow citizens, for your cordial greeting, and I 
congratulate you upon the evidences of returning prosperity every- 
where to be seen. The figures read by your chairman represent the 
growth of the great railroad system of the country. What you want, 
what we all want, is business prosperity. When you have that you have 
something to do. When you have it not you are idle. 

"There are few 'empties' now on the side tracks, and so there are 
few railroad men unemployed. The more you use the freight car the 
oftener you see the pay car. [Applause.] 

'T am glad to observe the First Illinois here with you to-day. That 
gallant regiment, made up of the volunteers from the homes of Chi- 
cago, took their lives into their hands and went to Santiago to fight 
the battles of liberty for an oppressed people. I am glad to have this 
opportunity to greet them, to congratulate and to thank them in the 
name of the American people. [Great applause.] 

"And now, having said this much, I bid you know that I will carry 
from this place, from this audience, from these warm-hearted men and 
women, one of the pleasantest memories of my long trip through the 
West." [Loud and prolonged cheering.] 

SPEECH AT THE AUDITORIUM^ ATLANTA, GEORGIA^ DECEMBER 1 5, 1 898. 

"Governor Candler, President Hemphill, Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
I cannot withhold from this people my profound thanks for their hearty 
reception and the good will which they have shown me . every where 
and in every way since I have been their guest. I thank them for the 
opportunity which this occasion gives me of meeting them, and for 
the pleasure it affords me to participate with them in honoring the 
army and the navy, to whose achievements we are indebted for one 
of the most brilliant chapters of American history. 

"Other parts of the country have had their public thanksgivings 
and jubilees in honor of the historic events of the past year, but no- 
where has there been greater rejoidng than among the people here, 
the gathered representatives of the South. I congratulate them upon 
their accurate observation of events, which enabled them to fix a date 
-udiich insured them the privilege of being the first to celebrate the 
signing of the treaty of peace by the American and Spanish commis- 
sioners. Under hostile fire on a foreign soil, fighting in a common 
cause, the memory of old disagreements has faded into history. From 



282 Life of William McKinley 

camp and campaign there comes the magic heahng which has closed 
ancient wounds and effaced their scars. For this result every Amer- 
ican patriot will forever rejoice. It is no small indemnity for the cost 
of the war. ' 

"This government has proved itself invinci1)le in the recent war, 
and out of it has come a nation which will remain indivisible forever- 
more. [Applause.] No worthier contributions have been made in 
patriotism and in men than by the people of these Southern states. 
When at last the opportunity came they were eager to meet it, and with 
promptness responded to the call of country. Intrusted with the able 
leadership of men dear to them, who had marched with their fathers 
under another tlag, now fighting under the old flag again, they have 
gloriously helped to defend its spotless folds, and added new luster 
to its shining stars. That flag has been planted in two hemispheres, 
and] there it remains the symbol of liberty and law, of peace and prog- 
ress. [Great applause.] Who will withdraw from the people over 
whom it floats its protecting folds ? Who will haul it down ? Answer 
me, ye men of the South, who is there in Dixie who will haul it down ? 
[ Tremendous applause. ] 

"The victory we celebrate is not that of a ruler, a president, or a 
congress, but of the people. [Applause.] The army whose valor we 
admire, and the navy whose achievements we applaud, were not as- 
sembled by draft or conscription, but from voluntary enlistment. The 
heroes came from civil as well as military life. Trained and untrained 
soldiers wrought our triumphs. 

"The peace we have won is not a selfish truce of arms, but one 
whose, conditions presage good to humanity. The domains secured 
und^er the treaty yet to be acted upon by the senate came to us not as 
the result of a crusade or conquest, but as the reward of temperate, 
faithful, and fearless response to the call of conscience, which could not 
be disregarded by a liberty-loving and Christian people. 

"We have so borne ourselves in the conflict and in our intercourse 
with the powers of the world as to escape complaint or complication, 
and give universal confidence in our high purpose and unselfish sac- 
rifices for struggling peoples. The task is not fulfilled. Indeed, it is 
only just begun. The most serious work is still before us, and every 
energy of heart and mind must be bent, and the impulses of partisan- 
ship subordinated, to its faithful execution. This is the time for earnest, 
not faint, hearts. 

" 'New occasions teach new duties.' To this nation and to every 
nation there come formative periods in its life and history. New con- 
ditions cao be met only by new methods. Meeting these conditions 



Our Martyred President 283 

hopefully, and facing- them bravely and wisely, is to be the mightiest 
test of American virtue and capacity. Without abandoning past lim- 
itations, traditions and principles, by meeting present opportunities ancl 
obligations, we shall show ourselves worthy of the great trusts which 
civilization has imposed upon us. [Great applause.] 

"At Bunker Hill liberty was at stake; at Gettysburg the Union 
was the issue; before Manila and Santiago our armies fought, not 
for gain or revenge, but for human rights. They contended for the 
freedom of the oppressed, for whose welfare the United States has 
never failed to lend a helping hand to establish and uphold, and, I 
believe, never will. The glories of the war cannot be dimmed, but 
the result will be incomplete and unworthy of us unless supplemented 
by civil victories, harder possibly to win, but in their way no less in- 
dispensable. [Great applause.] 

"We will diave our difficulties and our embarrassments. They fol- 
low all victories and accompany all great responsibilities. They are 
inseparable from every great movement or reform. But American 
capacity has triumphed over all in the past. [Applause.] Doubts 
have in the end vanished. Apparent dangers have been averted or 
avoided, and our own history shows that progress has come so natu- 
rally and steadily on the heels of new and grave responsibilities that 
as we look back upon the acquisitions of territory by our fathers, we 
are filled with wonder that any doubt could have existed or any appre- 
hension could have been felt of the wisdom of their action or their 
capacity to grapple with the then untried and mighty problems. [Great 
applause.] 

"The republic is to-day larger, stronger and better prepared than 
ever before for wise and profitable, development in new directions and 
along new lines. Even if the minds of some of our own people are 
still disturbed by perplexing and anxious doubts, in which all of us 
have shared and still share, the genius of American civilization will, 
I believe, be found both original and creative, and capable of subserv- 
ing all the great interests which shall be confided to our keeping. [Ap- 
plause.] 

"Forever in the right, following the best impulses and clinging to 
high purposes, using properly and within right limits our power and 
opportunities, honorable reward must inevitably follow. The outcome 
cannot be in doubt. We could have avoided all the difficulties that lie 
across the pathway of the nation if a few months ago we had coldly 
ignored the piteous appeals of the starving and oppressed inhabitants 
of Cuba. Tf we had blinded ourselves to the conditions so near our 
shores, and turned a deaf ear to our suffering neighbors, the issue of 



284 Life of William McKinley 

territorial expansion in the Antilles and the East Indies would not have 
been raised. 

"But could we have justified such a course? [General cry of 'No!'] 
Is there any one who would now declare another to have been the bet- 
ter course [Cries of 'No!'] With less humanity and less courage on 
our part, the Spanish flag, instead of the Stars and Stripes, would still 
be floating at Cavite, at Ponce, and at Santiago, and a 'chance in the 
race of life' would be wanting to millions of human beings who to-day 
call this nation noble, and who, I trust, will live to call it blessed. 

"Thus far we have done our supreme duty. Shall v/e now, when 
the victory won in war is written in the treaty of peace, and the civilized 
world applauds and waits in expectation, turn timidly away from the 
duties imposed upon the country by its own great deeds? And when 
the mists fade away and we see with clear vision, may we not go 
forth rejoicing in a strength which has been employed solely for hu- 
manity and always tempered with justice and mercy, confident of our 
ability to meet the exigencies which await us, because confident that our 
course is one of duty and our cause that of right? [Prolonged applause.] 

m'kINLEY on AMERICAN WOMANHOOD. 

In 1896 more than 600 women of Northern Ohio made an excursion 
to Canton to congratulate McKinley on his nomination for the Presi- 
dency. In response to their addresses of greeting Mr. McKinley gave 
utterance to the following words as showing his estimate of the place of 
woman in American life : 

"There is no limitation to the influence that may be exerted by 
woman in the United States and no adequate tribute can be spoken of 
her services to mankind throughout its eventful history. In the distant 
period of its settlement, in the day of the revolution, in the trials of 
western pioneer life, during the more recent but dread days of our civil 
war and, indeed, in every step of our progress as a nation, the devotion 
and sacrifices of woman were constantly apparent and often conspicuous. 
She was everywhere appreciated and recognized, though God alone 
could place her service at its true value. The work of woman has been 
a power in every emergency and always for good. In calamity and 
distress she has been helpful and heroic. Not only have some of the 
brightest pages of our national history been illuminated by her splendid 
example and noble efl'orts for the public good, but her influence in the 
home, the church, the school and the community in moulding character 
for every profession and duty to which our race is called, has been 
potential and sublime. It is in the quiet and peaceful walks of life that 
her power is greatest and most beneficial. One of the tenderest passages 



I 



Our Martyred President 285 

, me in the works of John Stuart Mill beautifully expresses this 

umght. It is recorded in his autobiography when he paused to pay 

high^uid deserved tribute to his wife, of whom he could not speak too 

much. lie says: 'She was not only the author of many of the best 

things I did, but she inspired every good thing I did.' 

•"^One of the best things of our civilization in America is the con- 
stant advancement of woman to a higher plane of labor and respon- 
sibility. The opportunities for her are greater now than ever before. 
This is singularly true here, where practically every avenue of human 
endeavor is open to her. Her impress is felt in art, science, literature, 
song and in government. Our churches, our schools, our chanties, our 
professions and our general business interests are more than ever each 
year directed by her. Respect for womankind has become with us a 
naticnal characteristic; and what a high and manly trait it is— none 
n()l)ler or holier. It stamps the true gentleman. The man who loves 
wife and mother and home will respect and reverence all womankind. 
He is always the l^etter citizen for such gentle breeding. 

"The home over which the trusted wife presides is the citadel of 
our strength, the best guaranty of good citizenship and sound morals 
in government. It is at the foundation— upon it all else is constructed. 
From the plain American home where virtue dwells and truth abides, 
go forth the men and women who make the great states and cities which 
adorn our republic, which maintain law and order, that citizenship which 
aims at the public welfare, the common good of all." 

m'kinley's estimate of the constitution of the united states. 

AIcKinley was the orator at the celebration in the Auditorium of 
Washington's birthday, held under the auspices of the Union League 
Club in 1894. He traced the life of Washington until he reached the 
period of the drafting of the constitution and its adoption. And this 
is how the Ohio man described it and told his opinion of it : 

"It has been strong enough for every emergency; it has been broad 
enough for every want; it has answered for the most part every new 
condftion ; it has survived every crisis in our national life. It provides 
for such frequent elections that if popular error gains the ascendency 
the sober second thought of the citizens can, in part at least, correct the 
mistake throu-h the great representatives body of the national congress; 
it insures frequent appeals to the popular will as an easy and safe remedy 
for existing wrongs and invests the people with perpetual power to 
change polides, laws and administrations w^henever they find them men- 



286 Life of William McKinley 

acing to the liberties or welfare of the country. It commands more 
general and cheerful obedience, and it is much more venerated today 
than e\er ])efore. But strong as the constitution is, the greatest safely 
to the rei)ublic is in the love and loyalty which the people bear it, the 
unwavering affection which is ever ready to kindle the flame of patriot- 
ism on our country's altar. May our love never abate and our loyally 
never weaken ! When patriotism falters, respect for charters and laws 
is at an end. The downfall of the nation begins when hope and faith 
in our institiutions are gone." 

m'kINLEY's last public address at the PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION, 
BUFFALO, SEPTEMBER 5, I9OI. 

Viewed in the light of the tragic developments which followed it, 
the speech which President McKinley delivered upon the occasion of his 
last public appearance, at the Buffalo exposition ,takes on a singular 
nupressiveness. To his countrymen at large, this definition of the na- 
tion's aspirations and its future mission among nations stands almost as 
the statement of William McKinley's legacy to his country. The speech 
IS both a summary of the nation's recent achievements and a forecast 
of the duties and triumphs which are to come. In the years of expandino- 
mfluence which are before the United States it is not unlikely that the 
leaders m the political life of the nation will find in this utterance the 
touch-stone by which to try issues of international policy 

It is significant of Mr. McKinley's breadth of view at the climax of 
his career that upon the most important items of his program botji 
democrat and republican, northerner and southerner, will be in accord 
Irade expansion, with the increase of beneficent power and influence 
winch attends it, he defined as the dominant principle of American poli- 
tics in the immediate future; but his advocacy of this policy stands as 
something more than an argument for an expansion of material inter- 
ests. It can never be forgotten by the republican partv that the stronoe^t 
and most impressive plea for freer trade relations' and the increased 
activity of the United States in the exchanges of the world was made by 
the man who had most earnestly worked for a policy of exclusive home 
development, so long as he believed that policy to be necessary And it 
IS impossible that any one who followed the thread of the president's 
Buffalo speech should fail to see that in boldly outlining this i ew o c^ 
be was animated not less by a patriotic desire for the nation's welfare than 
by a confident belief in the great role which it is destined to ph 
niak-ing for the progress and enlightenment of the world ' 

Ihose who are to take up the work which he has laid down could 



Our Martyred President 287 

scarcely have a higher conception of the mission which the nation is to 
fulfill than is embodied in this final expression of the dead President. 

The address is as follows : 

'^President Milburn, Director-General Buchanan, Commissioners, 
Ladies and Gentlemen — I am glad to be again in the city of Buffalo and 
exchange greetings with her people, to whose generous hospitality I am 
not a stranger, and with whose good will I have been repeatedly and sig- 
nally honored. 

"To-day I have additional satisfaction in meeting and giving wel- 
come to the foreign representatives assembled here, whose presence and 
participation in this exposition have contributed in so marked a degree 
tjo its interests and success. To the commissioners of the Dominion of 
Canada and the British colonies, the French colonies, the republics of 
Mexico and of Central and South America, and the commissioners of 
Cuba and Porto Rico, who share with us in this undertaking, we give the 
hand of fellowship and felicitate with them upon the triumphs of art, 
science, education and manufacture which the old has bequethed to the 
new century. 

"Expositions are the timekeepers of progress. They record the 
world's advancement. They stimulate the energy, enterprise and intel- 
lect of the people and quicken human genius. They go into the home. 
They broaden and brighten the daily life of the people. They open 
mighty storehouses of information to the student. 

BENEFIT IN EXPOSITIONS. 

"Every exposition, great or small, has helped to some onward step. 
Comparison of ideas is always educational, and as such instructs the brain 
and hand of man. Friendty rivalry follows, which is the spur to indus- 
trial improvement, the inspiration to useful invention and to high en- 
deavor in all departments of human activity. It exacts a study of the 
wants, comforts and even the whims of the people and recognizes the 
efficacy of high quality and low prices to win their favor. 

"The quest for trade is an incentive to men of business to devise, 
invent, improve and economize in the cost of production. Business life, 
whether among ourselves or with other people, is ever a sharp struggle 
for success. It will be none the less so in the future. Without compe- 
tition we would be clinging to the clumsy and antiquated processes of 
farming and manufacture and the methods of business of long ago. and 
the twentieth would be no further advanced than the eighteenth century. 
But though commercial competitors we are, commercial enemies we 
must not be. 



288 Life of William McKinley 

INVITES FRIENDLY RIVALRY. 

"The Pan-American exposition has done its work thoroughly, pre- 
senting in its exhibits evidences of the highest skill and illustrating the 
l)rogress of the human family in the western hemisphere. This por- 
tion of the earth has no cause for humiliation for the part it has i)er- 
formed in the march of civilization. It has not accomplished every- 
thing; far from it. It has simply done its best, and without vanity or 
boastfulness and recognizing the manifold achievements of others, it 
invites the friendly rivalry of all the powers in the peaceful pursuits of 
trade and commerce, and will co-operate with all in advancing the 
highest and best interests of humanity. 

"The wisdom and energ)' of all the nations are none too great for 
the world. ^lodern inventions have brought into close relation widely 
separated peoples, and made them better accpiainted. Geographical and 
political divisions will continue to exist, but distances have been effaced. 

ANNIHILATION OF SPACE. 

"Swift ships and fast trains are becoming cosmopolitan. They 
invade fields which a few years ago were impenetrable. The world's 
l)roducts are exchanged as never before, and with increasing trans- 
l)ortation facilities come increasing knowledge and trade. Prices are 
lixed with mathematical precision by supply and demand. The world's 
selling prices are regulated l^y market and crop reports. We travel 
greater distances in a shorter space of time and with more ease than 
was ever dreamed of by the fathers. 

"Isolation is no longer possible or desirable. The same important 
news is read, though in different languages, the same day in all Chris- 
tendom. The telegraph keeps us advised of what is occurring every- 
^\•herc, and the press foreshadows, with more or less accuracy, the 
l)lans and purposes of the nations. Market prices of products and of 
securities are hourly known in every commercial mart, and the in- 
vestments of the people extend beyond their own national boundaries 
into the remotest parts of the earth. Vast transactions are conducted 
and international exchanges are made by the tick of the cable. Everv 
event of interest is immediately bulletined. 

COMPARISON IS DRAWN. 

"The quick gathering and transmission of news, like rapid transit, 
are of recent origin, and are only made possible by the genius of 
tlie inventor and the courage of the investor. It took a special mes- 
senger of the government, with every facility known at the time for 
rapid travel, nineteen days to go from the city of \\''ashington to New 







«^' 



i^v 



y '* 




V'* 




THE LAST FAREWELL 



Our Martyred President 289 

Orleans with a message to General Jackson that the war with England 
had ceased and a treaty of peace had been signed. 

"How different now ! We reach General Miles in Porto Rico by 
cable, and he was able through the military telegraph to stop his army 
on the tiring line with the message that the United States and Spain 
had signed a protocol suspending hostilities. We knew almost in- 
stantly of the first shots fired at Santiago, and the subsequent sur- 
render of the Spanish forces was known at Washington within less 
than an hour of its consummation. The first ship of Cervera's fleet 
had hardly emerged from that historic harbor when the fact was 
flashed to our capital and the swift destruction that followed was an- 
nounced immediately through the wonderful medium of telegraphy. 

DARK DAYS AT PEKING. 

"So accustomed arc we to safe and easy communication with dis- 
tant lands that its temporary interruption, even in ordinary times, re- 
sults in loss and inconvenience. We shall never forget the days of 
anxious waiting and awful suspense when no information was per- 
mitted to be sent from I'eking, and the diplomatic representatives 
of the nations in China, cut off from all communication inside and 
outside of the walled capital, were surrounded by an angry and mis- 
guided mob that threatened their lives; nor the joy that thrilled the 
world when a single message from the government of the United 
States brought through our minister the first news of the safety of 
the besieged diplomats. 

"At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was not a mile 
of steam railroad on the globe. Now, there are enough miles to make 
its circuit many times. Th&n there was not a line of electric tele- 
;"raph ; now we have vast mileage traversing all lands and all seas. 

''God and man have linked the nations together. No nation can 

[longer be indifferent to any other. And as we are brought more 

jand more in touch with each other, the less occasion is there for mis- 

pnderstandings and the stronger the disposition, when we have differ- 

mces, to adjust them in the court of arbitration, which is the noblest 

forum for the settlement of international disputes. 

PROSPERITY OF THE NATION 

"My fellow citizens, trade statistics indicate that this country is in 
state of unexampled prosperity. The figures are almost appalling. 
[They show that we are utilizing our fields and fcn-est and mines and 
|that we are furnishing profitable emnlovme'-'t to the millions of working- 
len throughout the United States, bringing comfort and happiness to 

19 



290 Life of William McKinley 

their homes and making it possible to lay by their savings for old age 
and disability. 

"That all the people are participating in this great prosperity is 
seen in every iVmerican community and shown by the enormous and 
unprecedented deposits in our savings banks. Our duty is the care 
and security of these deposits, and their safe investment demands the 
highest integrity and the best business capacity of those in charge of 
those depositories of the people's earnings. 

"We have a vast and intricate business, built up through years of 
toil and struggle, in which every part of the country has its stake, which 
will not permit of cither neglect or of undue selfishness. No narrow, 
sordid policy will subserve it. The greatest skill and wisdom on the 
part of the manufacturers and producers will be required to hold and 
increase it. Our industrial enterprises, wdiich have grown to such pro- 
portions, aft\.ct the homes and occupations of the people and the welfare 
of the country. Our capacity to ])roduce has developed so enormously 
and our products have so multiplietl that the problem of more markets 
requires our urgent and immediate attention. 

FOR ENLIGHTENED POLICY. 

"Only a broad and enlightened i)olicy will keep what we have. No 

other policy will get more. In these times of marvelous business 

energy and gain we ought to l)e looking to the future, strengthening 

the weak places in our industrial and commercial systems, so that we 

nay be ready for any storm or strain. 

"By sensible trade arrangement which will not interrupt our home- 
production we shall extend the outlets for our increasing surplus. A 
system which pro\'ides a mutual exchange of commodities is manifestly 
essential to the continued healthful growth of our export trade. Wo 
must not repose in fanciful security that we can forever sell everything 
and buy little or nothing. If such a thing were possible, it would not 
be best for us or for those with whom we deal. We should take from 
our customers such of their products as we can use without harm to 
our industries and labor. 

"Reciprocity is the natural outgrowth of our wonderful industrial 
development under the domestic ptjlicy now firmly established. What 
we produce beyond our domestic consum])tion must have a vent abroad. 
The excess must be relieved through a foreign outlet, and we should 
sell everywhere we can and buy wherever the buying will enlarge our 
sales and productions, and thereby make a greater demand for home 
labor. 



Our Martyred President 291 

EXPAXSIOX AND RECirROCITY. 

'■ I he i)enu-l oi excliisiveness is past. The expansion of our trade 
ami coninicrce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unproht- 
ablc. A policy of good will and friendly trade relations will prevent 
reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the 
limes; measures of retaliation are not. If, perchance, some of our tariffs 
are no longer needed for revenue or to encourage and protect our in- 
du>tries at home, why should they not be employed to extend and pro- 
mote our markets abroad? 

■■ riien. too. we h^ive inadeciuate steamship service. New lines of 
steamers have already been put in commission between the Pacific coast 
pnrls of the United States and those on the western coasts of Mexico 
and CeiUral and South America. These should be followed up with 
direct steamship lines between the eastern coasts of the United States 
an<l South American ports. One of the needs of the -times is direct 
commercial lines from our vast fields of production to the fields of con- 
-nmption that we have but barely touched. Next in advantage to having 
ilie thing to sell is to have the convenience to carry it to the buyer. 

'A\'e nnist encourage our merchant marine. We must have more 
sliips. They must be under the American fiag, Ijuilt and manned and 
"wned by Americans. These will not only be profitable in a commercial 
-ensc; they will be messengers of peace and amity wherever they go. 

'A\'e nuist build the isthmian canal, which will unite the two oceans 
anil give a straight line of water communication with the western coasts 
nf Central .\mcrica. South America and Mexico, The construction of 
a Pacific cable cannot be longer postponed. 

C.IVES DLAINE CREDIT. 

"In the iurilKTance "f these objects of national interest and concern 
you are performing an important i)art. This exposition would have 
touched the heart of the .\mcrican statesman whose mind was ever alert 
and ibnught ever constant for a larger commerce and a truer fraternity 
of the reiHiblics of the new world. His broad American spirit is felt and 
mamfestcd here lie needs no identification to an assemblage of 
Americans anywhere, for the name of Blaine is inseparably associated 
with the Pan-American movement, which finds this practical and sub- 
•-tantial expression, and which v,e all hope will be firmly advanced by 
the T\an-.\merican congress that assembles this autumn in the capital 
of Mexico. 

"The good work will g<-) on. It cannot be stopped. Tliese buildings 
will disappear, this creation of art and beauty and industry will perish 
from sight, but their influence will remain to 



292 Life of William McKinley 

"Make it live beyond its too short living 
With praises and thanksgiving. 

"Who can tell the new thoughts that have been awakened, the am- 
bitions fired and the high achievements that will be wrought through 
this exposition? 

"Gentlemen, let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, 
not conflict, and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, 
not those of war. We hope that all who are represented here may be 
moved to higher and nobler effort for their own and the world's good, 
and that out of this city may come not only greater commerce and trade 
for us all, but. more essential than these, relations of mutual respect, 
confidence and friendship which will deepen and endure. 

"Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe pros- 
perity, happiness and peace to all our neighbors and like blessings to all 
the people and powers of earth." 

ROBERT P. PORTER, THE WELL-KNOWN AMERICAN JOURNALIST AND 
CUBAN COMMISSIONER, SAYS OF THIS ADDRESS: 

"President McKinley's Buft'alo speech defined the very essence of reci- 
procity. We must take from customers some of their products in 
exchange for our own, else, unguarded by a strong protective tariff, how 
can they pay for our goods ? We ha\'e a dozen commercial treaties 
negotiated by the McKinley administration awaiting ratification by the 
senate. President McKinley strongly urged the confirmation of these 
without delay. 

"Those who believe in reciprocity as the natural outgrowtTi of our 
wonderful industrial development, as the late President did, will be glad 
to learn that President Roosevelt will vigorously push their ratification. 
He was never so strong an advocate of ])rotection as the late President, 
consequently it will be easier for him to change with the new conditions 
facing the republican party, while by no means abandoning the home 
markets. 

WORDS WERE SIGNIFICANT. 

"The republican leaders must realize the significance of President 
McKinley's last words. Coming from so loyal a protectionist, they would 
have their effect on the majority of the senate. 

"President Roosevelt's opinion also should have weight with those 
who believe in broader trade relations with the world, and they should 
wish him success in converting the senate to the theory of the martyred 
President : 'We sell everything. W^e can buy wherever buying will 



p 




MRS. WILLIAM McKINLEY 
Mother of the President 



Our Martyred President 293 

enlarge our sales.' That is true reciprocity. That is the only foreign 
trade policy for the United States. 

"Unless President Roosevelt has materially modified the views he has 
always expressed he will adhere to these general principles." 

GOLDEN SAYINGS OF m'kINLEY. 

A noble manhood, nobly consecrated to man, never dies. 
God puts no nation in supreme place which will not do supreme duty. 
Patriotism is above party and national honor is dearer than any 
party name. 

/ The American home lies at the very beginning and foundation cf 
a pure national life. 

God will not long prosper that nation which will not protect and 
defend its weakened citizens. 

Christian character is the foundation upon which we must build if 
our citizenship is to be uplifted and our institutions are to endure. 

The men who established this government had faith in God and 
sublimely trusted in him. They besought his counsel and advice in every 
step of their progress. And so it has been ever since; American history 
abounds in instances of this trait of piety, this sincere reliance on a 
higher power in all our national affairs. 

Tmi)rovement in every walk of life is the outgrowth of thought and 
discussion and ambition. We do better as we are better ourselves. 

Self-government politically can be successfully only if it be accom- 
panied by self-government personally; there must be government some- 
where. 

The American home where honesty, sobriety, and truth preside, and 
a simple, every-day virtue without pomp and ostentation is practiced,^ 
is the nursery of all true educations. 

The want of time is manly men, men of character, culture and 
courage, of faith and sincerity; the exalted manhood wdiich forges its 
w^ay to the front by the force of its own merits. 

It is the duty of each of us, by word and act, in so far as it can be 
done, to improve the present condition. But, above all, we must not 
(fisparage our government. We must uphold it and uphold it at all 
times and in all circumstances. 

The tomorrows are too full to be crowded with the yesterdays. We 
must move on and forward. We must learn that every day is a new 
dav, with its own distinctive and commanding duties, and cannot atone 
for the yesterdays unimproved. 



294 ^^^^ °^ William McKinley 

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand 
which conducts the affairs of man than the people of the United States. 
Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an inde- 
pendent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of provi- 
dential agency. 

The labor of the country constitutes its strength and its wealth, and 
the better that labor is conditioned the higher its rewards, the wider its 
opportunities, and the greater its comforts and refinements, the more 
sacred will be our homes, the more capable will be our children and the 
nobler will be the destiny that awaits us. 

The first duty of a nation is to enact those laws which will give to 
its citizens the widest opportunity for labor and the best rew-ards for 
work done. You cannot have the best citizenship without these en- 
couragements, and with us the best citizenship is required to secure the 
best government, the best lavvS and their wdse administration. 

An open schoolhouse, free to all, evidences the highest type of ad- 
vanced civilization. It is the gateway to progress, prosperity and honor 
and the best security for the liberties and independence of the people. It 
is the strongest rock of the foundation, the most enduring stone of the 
temple of liberty — ay, the very citadel of our influence and power. It 
is better than garrison and guns, than forts and fleets. 

Peace, order and good-will among the people, with patriotism in 
their hearts, truth, honor and justice in the executive, judicial and legis- 
lative branches of the government, municipal, state and national ; all 
yielding respect and ol)edience to law. all equal before the law and all 
alike amenal)le to law — -such are the conditions that will make our gov- 
ernment too strong even to be liroken by internal dissensions and too 
powerful even to be overturned by any enemy from without. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

Life Described by William McKinley. 

Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Marquette Club and My Fellow-Citizens'. 

It requires the most gracious pages in the world's history to record 
what one American achieved. The story of this simple life is the story of 
a plain, honest, manly citizen, true patriot, and profound statesmen, who, 
helieving with all the strength of his mighty soul in the institutions of 
his country, won because of them the highest place in its government — 
then fell a precious sacrifice to the union he held so dear, which Provi- 
dence had spared his life long enough to save. 

\\t meet tonight to do honor to this immortal hero, Abraham Lincoln, 
whose achievements have heightened human aspirations and broadened 
the field of opportunity to the races of men. While the party with which 
we stand, and for which he stood, can justly claim him, and without 
dispute can boast the distinction of being the first to honor and trust him, 
his fame has leaped the bounds of party and country, and now belongs 
to mankind and the ages. 

What were the traits of character which made Abraham Lincoln 
prophet and master, without a rival, in the greatest crisis in our history? 
What gave him such mighty power? To me the answer is simple : Lin- 
coln had sublime faith in the people. He walked with and among them. 
He recognized the importance and power of an enlightened public senti- 
ment and was guided by it. Even amid the vicissitudes of war he 
concealed little from puljlic review and inspection. In all he did he invited, 
rather than evaded, examination and criticism. He submitted his plans 
and purposes, as far as practicable, to public consideration with perfect 
frankness and sincerity. There was such homely simplicity in his char- 
acter that it could not be hedged in by the pomp of place nor the cere- 
monies of high official station. He was so accessible to the public that he 
seemed to take the whole people into his confidence. Here, perhaps, was 
one secret of his power. The people never lost their confidence in him, 
however much thev unconsciously added to his personal discomfort and 
trials. His patience was almost superhuman, and who will say that he 
was mistaken in his treatment of the thousands who thronged continually 

295 



296 Life of William McKinley 

about him? More than once when reproached for permitting visitors to 
crowd upon him he asked, in pained surprise: "Why, what harm does 
this confidence in men do me? I get only good and inspiration from it."' 

HE DISDAINED NO HUMAN BEING. 

Horace Greeley once said : "I doubt whether man, woman or child, 
white or black, bond or free, virtuous or vicious, ever accosted or reached 
forth a hand to Abraham Lincoln and detected in his countenance or 
nianner any repugnance or shrinking from the proffered contact, any 
assumption of superiority or betrayal of disdain." 

Frederick Douglass, the orator and patriot, is credited with saying : 
"Mr. Lincoln is the only white man with whom I have ever talked, or in 
whose presence I have ever been, who did not, consciously or uncon- 
sciously, betray to me that he recognized my color." 

George Bancroft, the historian, alluding to this characteristic, which 
was never so conspicuously manifested as during the darker hours of the 
war, beautifully illustrated it in these memorable words : "As a child, in 
a dark night, on a rugged way, catches hold of the hand of its father for 
guidance and support, Lincoln clung fast to the hand of the people and 
moved calmly through the gloom." 

His earliest public utterances were marked by this confidence. On 
March 9, 1832, when announcing himself as a candidate for representa- 
tive in the Illinois legislature, he said that he felt it his duty to make 
known to the people his sentiments upon the questions of the day : 

"Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition, and, whether it 
be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of 
being truly esteemed by my fellow-men by rendering myself worthy of 
their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet 
to be developed. I am young and unknowMi to many of you. I w\as born 
and have ever remained in the humblest walks of life. I have no wealthy 
or popular relatives or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown 
exclusively upon the independent voters of the county. * * * j^^ij- 
if the good people in their wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the back- 
ground, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much 
chagrined." 

In this remarkable address — to me ahvays pathetic — made w^hen he 
was only 23, the main elements of Lincoln's character and the qualities 
which made his great career possible are revealed with startling distinct- 
ness. It expresses the experience of the noble young man of today equallv 
as well as then. We see therein "that brave old wisdom of sinceritv," 
that oneness in feeling with the common people, and that supreme confi- 
dence in them which formed the foundation of his political faith. 



Our Martyred President 297 

A DEMOCRAT^ LIKE FRANKLIN. 

Among the statesmen of America, Lincoln is the true democrat ; and, 
Frankhn perhaps excepted, the first great one. He had no iUustrious 
ancestry, no inherited place or wealth, and none of the prestige, power, 
training or culture which were assured to the gentry or landed classes, 
of our own colonial times. Nor did Lincoln believe that these classes 
respectable and patriotic however they might be, should, as a matter of 
abstract right, have the controlling influence in our government. Instead, 
he believed in the all-pervading power of public opinion. 

Lmcoln had little or no instruction in the common school ; but, as the 
eminent Dr. Cuyler has said, he was graduated from "the grand college 
of free labor, wdiose works were the flat boat, the farm and the backwoods 
lawyer's office," He had a broad comprehension of the central idea of 
popular government. The declaration of independence was his hand- 
book; time and again he expressed his belief in freedom and equality. On 
July I, 1854, he wrote: 

"Most governments have been based, practically, on the denial of the 
equal rights of men. Ours began by affirming those rights. They said : 
'Some men are too ignorant and vicious to share in government.' 'Prob- 
aljly so,' said we; 'and by your system you would always keep them 
ignorant and vicious. We proi[X)se to give all a chance ; and we expected 
the weak to grow stronger, the ignorant waser, and all better and happier 
together.' We made the experiment, and the fruit is before, us. Look at 
it! Think of it! Look at it in its aggregate grandeur, extent of country 
and numbers of population." 

Lincoln believed in the uplifting influences of free government, and 
that by giving all a chance we could get higher average results for the 
people than where governments are exclusive and opportunities are 
limited to the few. No American ever did so much as he to enlarge these 
opportunities, or tear down the barriers which excluded a free participa- 
tion in them. In his first message to Congress, at the special session 
convening on July 4, 1861, he gave signal evidence of his faith in our 
institutions and their elevating influences in most impressive language. 
He said : 

"It may be affirmed without extravagance that the free institutions 
we enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condition of our 
whole people beyond any example in the world. Of this we now have a 
striking and impressive illustration. So large an army as the government 
now has on foot w^as never before known without a soldier in it but who 
has taken his place there of his own free choice. [Then wdiat followed in 
his message is. to me, the highest and most touching tribute ever spoken 
or written of our matchless volunteer army of 1861-65 by any American 



298 Life of William McKinley 

statesman, soldier or citizen from that day to this.] : But more than this, 
there are many single regiments whose members, one and another, possess 
full practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences and professions, and 
whatever else, whether useful or elegant, is known to the world; and 
there is scarcely one from which there could not be selected a president, 
a cabinet, a congress, and perhaps a court, abundantly competent to 
administer the government itself." 

What a noble, self-sacrificing army of freemen he describes! The 
like of it mankind never saw before and will not look upon soon again. 
Their service and sacrifice were not in vain — the union is stronger, freer 
and better than ever before because they lived, and the peace, fraternity 
and harmony, which Lincoln prayed might come, and which he prophesied 
would come, are happily here. And now that the wounds of the war 
are healed, may we not tonight with grateful hearts resolve, in the words 
of Lincoln, that we will "care for him who shall have borne the battle, and 
for his widow, and his orphan." 

GREW STEADILY TO MEET HIS TASK. 

Lincoln's antecedent life seems to have been one of unconscious 
preparation for the great responsibilities which were committed to him 
in i860. As one of the masses himself, and living with them, sharing 
their feelings and sympathizing with their daily trials, their hopes and 
aspirations, he was better fitted to lead them than any other man of his 
age. He recognizes more clearly than anyone else that the plain people 
he met in his daily life and knew so familiarly were, according to the 
dictates of justice and our theory of government, its ultimate rulers and 
the arbiters of its destiny. He knew this not as a theory, but from his 
own. personal experience. 

Born in poverty, and surrounded by obstacles on every hand seem- 
ingly insurmountable but for the intervening hand of Providence, Lin- 
coln grew every year into greater and grander intellectual power and 
vigor. His life, until he was twelve years old, was spent either in a 
"half-faced camp" or cabin. Yet amid such surroundings the boy learned 
to read, write and cipher, to think, declaim and speak, in a manner far 
beyond his years and time. All his days in the school house "added 
together would not make a single year." But every day of his life from 
infancy to manhood was a constant drill in the school of nature and 
experience. His study of books and newspapers was beyond that of any 
other person in his town or neighborhood, and perhaps of his county or 
section. He did not read many books, but he learned more from them 
than any other reader. It was strength of body as well as of mind that 
made Lincoln's career possible. Ill success only spurred him into making 



Our Martyred President 299 

himself more worthy of trust and confidence. Nothing could daunt him. 
He might have but a single tow-linen shirt, or only one pair of jean 
pantaloons; he often did not know where his next dollar was to come 
from, but he mastered English grammar and composition, arithmetic, 
geometry, surveying, logic and law^ 

How^ well he mastered the art of expression is shown by the incident 
of the Yale professor who heard his Cooper Institute speech and called on 
him at his hotel to inquire where he had learned his matchless power as a 
pul)lic speaker. The modest country lawyer was in turn surprised to be 
suspected of possessing unusual talents as an orator, and could only 
answer that his sole training had been in the school of experience. 

GREAT ORATOR AND POPULAR LEADER. 

Eight years' service in the Illinois legislature, two in congress, and 
nearly thirty years' political campaigning, in the most exciting period 
of American politics, gave scope for the development of his powers, 
and that tact, readiness, and self-reliance w^hich w-ere invaluable to a 
modest, backward man, such as Lincoln naturally was. Added to these 
qualities he had the genius which communizes, which puts a man on 
a level, not only with the highest but wdth the lowest of his kind. By 
dint of patient industry, and by using wisely his limited opportunities, 
he became the most popular orator, the best political manager, and the 
ablest leader of his party in Illinois. 

But the best training he had for the presidency, after all, was his 
twenty-three years' arduous experience as a lawyer traveling the circuit 
of the courts of his district and state. Here he met in forensic contests, 
and frequently defeated some of the most powerful legal minds of the 
West. In the higher courts he won still greater distinction in the 
important cases committed to his charge. 

With this preparation it is not surprising that Lincoln entered upon 
the presidency peculiarly well equipped for its vast responsibilities. 
His contemporaries, however, did not realize this. The leading states- 
men of the country were not prepossessed in his favor. They appear 
to have had no conception of the remarkable powers latent beneath 
that uncouth and rugged exterior. It seemed to them strangely out 
of place that the people should at this, the greatest crisis of their history, 
intrust the supreme executive power of the nation to one whom they 
presumptuously called "this ignorant rail-splitter from the prairies of 
Illinois." Many predicted failure from the beginning. 

Lincoln was essentially a man of peace. He inherited from his 
Quaker forefathers an intense opposition to war. During his brief 
service in congress he found occasion more than once to express it. 



300 Life of William McKinley -l^ 

He opposed the Mexican war from principle, but voted men and supplies 
after hotilities actually began. In one of his few speeches in the house 
he characterized military glory as "that rainbow that rises in showers 
o,f blood— that serpent that charms but to destroy." When he became 
responsible for the welfare of the country he was none the less earnest 
for peace. He felt that even in the most righteous cause war is a 
fearful thing, and he was actuated by the feeling that it ought not to 
be begun except as a last resort, and then only after it had been pre- 
cipitated by the enemies of the country. He said in Philadelphia, on 
Feb. 22, 1861 : 

'There is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity 
for it. I am not in favor of such a course : and I may say in advance 
that there will be no bloodshed unless it is forced upon the government. 
The government will not use the force unless force is used against it." 

HIS RIVALS BECOME HIS MINISTERS. 

In the selection of his cabinet he at once showed his greatness and 
magnanimity. His principal rivals for the presidential nomination were 
invited to seats in his council chamber. No one but a great ma,n, con- 
scious of his own strength, would have done this. It was soon perceived 
that his greatness was in no sense obscured by the presence of the 
distinguished men who sat about him. The most gifted statesmen of 
the country, Seward, Chase, Cameron, Stanton, Blair, Bates, Welles, 
Fessenden, and Dennison, some of whom had been leaders in the senate 
of the United States, composed that historic cabinet, and the man who 
had been sneered at as "the rail-splitter" suffered nothing by such 
association and comparison. He was a leader in fact as well as in 
name. 

Magnanimity was one of Linicoln's most striking traits. Patriotism 
moved him at every step. At the beginning of the war he placed at 
the head of three most important military departments three of his 
political opponents, Patterson, Butler and McClellan. He did not 
propose to make it a partisan war. He sought by every means in his 
power to enlist all wdio were patriots. 

In his message of July 4, 1861, he stated his purpose in these words: 

"I desire to preserve the government that it may be administered 
for all, as it was administered by the men who made it. On the side 
of the union it is a struggle to maintain in the world that form and 
substance of government whose leading object is to elevate the condi- 
tion of men, lift artificial burdens from all shoulders and clear the 
paths of laudable pursuits for a-11. to afiford all an unfettered start 
and a fair chance in the race of life. This is the leading object of the 
government for whose existence we contend." 




MR. ABNER McKINLEY 



Our Martyred President 301 

Many people were impatient at Lincoln's conservatism. He gave 
the south every chance possible. He pleaded with them with an earnest- 
ness that was pathetic. He recognized that the south was not alone 
to blame for the existence of slavery, but that the sin was a national 
one. He sought to impress upon the south that he would not use his 
office as preside'nt to take away from them any constitutional right, 
great or small. 

HE PLEADED FIRST FOR PEACE. 

In his inaugural he adxlressed the men of the south, as well as the 
north, as his "countrymen," one and all, and with an outburst of 
indcscriljable tenderness exclaimed : "We are not enemies, but friends. 
We must not be enemies." And then in those wondrously sweet and 
touching words which even yet thrill the heart, he said: 

"Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds 
of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every 
battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all 
o\er this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the union when again 
touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." 

But his words were unheeded. The mighty war came with its 
dreadful train. Knowing no wrong, he dreaded no evil for himself. 
He luul done all he could to save the country by peaceful means. He 
had entreated and exjiostulated, now he would do and dare. He ha,d 
in words of solemn imjjort warned the men of the south. He had 
appealed to their patriotism by the sacred memories of the battlefields 
of the revolution, on which the patriot Ijlood of their ancestors had been 
so bravely shed, not to break up the union. Yet all in vain. "Both 
parties deprecated w^ar; but one would make war rather than let the 
nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it 
perish. And the war came." 

Lincoln did all he could to avert it, but there was no hesitation on 
his part when the sword of rebellion flashed from its scabbard. He was 
from that moment until the close of his life unceasingly devoted and 
consecrated to the great purpose of saving the union. All other matters 
he regarded as trivial, and every movement, of whatever character, 
whether important or unimportant of itself, was bent to that end. 

The world now regards with wonder the infinite patience, gentle- 
ness and kindness with which he bore the terrible burdens of that four 
years' struggle. Humane, forgiving and long sufifering himself, he was 
always especially tender and considerate of the poor, and in his treat- 
ment of them was full of those "kind little acts which are of the same 
blood as great and holy deeds." As Charles Sumner so well said: 
"With him as President, the idea of republican institutions, where no 



302 Life of William McKinley 

place is too high for tlie humblest, \\as perpetually uianifest, so that 
his simple presence was a proclamation uf the equality of all men." 

^ Durmg the whole of the struggle he was a tower of strength to the 
union. Whether in defeat or vict(jry, he kept right on, dismayed at 
nothing, and never to be diverted from the pathway of duty. Ahvay.. 
cool and determined, all learned to gain renewed courage, calmne'hs 
and wisdom from him, and to lean upon his strong arm for support. 
The proud designation "Father of His Country," was not more appro- 
priately bestowed upon Washington, than the affectionate title "Father 
Abraham" was given to Lincoln by the soldiers and loyal people of 
the north. 

HIS EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

The crowning glory of Lincoln's administration, and the greatest 
executive act in American history, was his immortal proclamation of 
emancipation. Perhaps more clearly than any one else Lincoln had 
realized years before he was called to the presidency that the country 
could not continue half slave and half free. Fie declared it before 
Seward proclaimed the "irrepressible conflict." The contest between 
freedom and slavery was inevitable; it was written in the stars. The 
nation must be either all slave or all free. Lincoln with almost super- 
natural prescience foresaw it. His prophetic vision is manifested through 
all his utterances, notably in the great debate between himself and 
Douglas. To him was given the duty and responsibility of making 
that great classic of lil)erty, the declaration of independence, no longer 
an empty promise, but a glorious fulfillment. 

Many long and thorny steps were to be taken before this great act 
of justice could be performed. Patience and forbearance had to be 
exercised. It had to be demonstrated that the union could be saved 
m no other way. Lincoln, much as he abhorred slavery, felt that his 
chief duty was to save the union, under the constitution, and within 
the constitution. FTe did not assume the duties of his great office with 
the purpose of abolishing slavery, nor changing the constitution, but as 
a servant of the constitution and the laws of the country then existing 
Li a speech delivered in Ohio in 1859 he said : "The people of the United] 
States are the rightful masters of both congress and the courts— not to 
overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who would over- 
throw the constitution." 

This w^as the principle which governed him, and which he applied 
in his official conduct when lie reached the presidency. We now know 
that he had emancipation constantly in his mind's eve for nearly two 
years after his first inauguration. It is true he said at the start: "I 
believe I have no lawful right to interfere with slavery where it now 



Our Martyred President 303 

exists, and have no intention of doing so" ; and that the pubHc had Httle 
reason to think he was meditating general emancipation until he issued 
his preliminary proclamation Sept. 22, 1862. 

Just a month before, exactly, he had written to the editor of the 
New York Tribune : 

"My jjaramount object is to save the union, and not either to save 
ur destroy slavery. If I could save the union without freeing any slave, 
1 would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would 
do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I 
would also do that." 

HE SAW THE PURPOSES OF GOD. 

The difference in his thought and purpose about "the divine institu- 
tion" is very apparent in these two expressions. Both were made in 
al)Solute honor and sincerity. Public sentiment had undergone a great 
change, and Lincoln, valiant defender of the constitution that he was 
and faithful tribune of the people that he always had been, changed 
with the people. The war had brought them and him to a nearer 
realization of absolute dependence upon a higher power, and had quick- 
ened his conceptions of duty more acutely than the public could realize. 
'I'he purix)ses of God, working through the ages, were perhaps more 
clearly revealed to him than to any other. 

Besides, it was as he himself once said: "It is a quality of revolu- 
tions not to go by old times or old laws, but to break up both and make 
new ones." He was "naturally anti-slavery," and the determination 
he formed when, as a young man, he witnessed an auction in the slave 
shambles of New Orleans, never forsook him. It is recorded how his 
soul burned with indignation, and that he then exclaimed: "If ever I 
get a chance to hit that thing, Til hit it hard." He "hit it hard" when, 
as a meml)er of the Illinois legislature, he protested that "the institution 
of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy. He "hit it hard" 
wlien, as a member of congress, he "voted for the Wilmot proviso as good 
as forty times." He "hit it hard" when he stumped his state against the 
Kansas-Nebraska bill, and on the direct issue carried Illinois in favor 
of anti-slavery by a majority of 4,414 votes. He "hit it hard" when he 
approved the law abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, an 
antislavery measure that he had voted for in congress. He "hit it hard" 
when he signed the acts abolishing slavery in all the territories, and for 
the repeal of the fugitive slave law. But it still remained for him to 
strike slavery its death blow. He did that in his glorious proclamation 
of freedom. 



304 Li^e of William McKinley 

VALUE OF THE BLACK SOLDIERS. 

It was in this light that Lincohi himself viewed these great events. 
He wrote to a mass meeting of unconditional union men at Springfield, 
111., Aug. 26, 1863, as follows: 

"The emancipation policy and the use of colored troops constitute 
the heaviest hlow yet felt to the rebellion, and at least one of these 
important successes could not have been achieved when it was but for 
the aid of 1)lack soldiers. * '^ * The job was a great national 
one, and let none be banned who bore an honorable part in it. * * ^• 
Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, 
and come to stay ; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future 
time. It will then have proved that among free men there can be no 
successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take 
such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And then there 
will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue, and 
clenched teeth, and steady eye, and w^ell-poised bayonet, they have helped 
mankind on to this great consummation, while I fear there will be some 
white ones unable to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful 
speech they strove to hinder it." 

Secretary Seward tells how when he carried the historic proclamation 
to the President for signature at noon on the ist day of January, 1863, 
he said : 'T have been shaking hands since 9 o'clock this morning, and 
my right hand is almost paralyzed. If my name ever goes into history, 
it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. If my hand trembles 
when I sign the proclamation all who examine the document hereafter 
will say, 'he hesitated.' " He turned to the table, took up his pen, and 
slowly, firmly wrote that 'Abraham Lincoln' with which the whole world 
is now familiar. Then he looked up and said: "That will do." 

In all the long years of slavery agitation, unlike any of the other 
antislavery leaders, Lincoln always carried the people with him. In 
1854 Illinois cast loose from her old democratic moorings and followed 
his leadership in a most emphatic protest against the repeal of the 
Missouri compromise. In 1858 the people of Illinois indorsed his 
opposition to the aggressions of slavery, in a state usually democratic, 
even against so popular a leader as "the Little Giant." In i860 the 
whole country indorsed his position on slavery, even when the people 
were continually harrangued that his election meant the dissolution of 
the union. During the war the people advanced with him, step by step, 
to its final overthrow. Indeed, in the election of 1864, the people not 
only indorsed emancipation, but went far toward recognizing the political 
equality of the negro. They heartily justified the President in having 
enlisted colored soldiers to fight, side by side, with the white man in 



Our Martyred President 305 

the noble cause of union and liberty. Aye, they did more, they indorsed 
his position on another and vastly more important phase of the race 
problem. They approved his course as President in reorganizing the 
government of Louisiana, and a hostile press did not fail to call atten- 
tion to the fact that this meant eventually negro suffrage in that state. 

Perhaps, however, it was not known then that Lincoln had written 
the new free state governor on March 13, 1864, as follows: 

"Now you are about to have a convention, which, among other 
things, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest 
for you private consideration, whether some of the colored people may 
not be let in — as, for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those 
who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, 
in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty within the 
family of freedom." 

IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG SPEECH. 

Lincoln had that happy, peculiar habit, which few public men have 
attained, of looking away from the deceptive and misleading influences 
about him, and none are more deceptive than those of public life in our 
captitals, straight into the hearts of the people. He could not be deceived 
by the self-interested host of eager counselors who sought to enforce 
their own particular views upon him as the voice of the country. He 
chose to determine for himself what the people were thinking about and 
wanting him to do, and no man ever lived who was a more accurate 
judge of their opinions and wishes. 

The battle of Gettysburg turned the scale of the war in favor of 
the ur.ion, and it has always seemed to me most fortunate that Lincoln 
declared for emancipation before rather than after that decisive contest. 
A later proclamation might have been constructed as a tame and cowardly 
performance, not a challenge of truth to error for mortal combat. The 
ground on which the battle was fought is held sacred by every friend 
of freedom. But important as the battle itself was the dedication of it 
as a national cemetery is celebrated for a grander thing. The words 
Lincoln spoke there will live "until time shall be no more," through 
all eternity. Well may they be forever preserved on tablets of bronze 
upon the spot where he spoke, but how infinitely better it would be if they 
could find a permanent lodging in the soul of every American ! 

USED POWER WITH M0DER.\TI0N. 

Lincoln was a man of moderation. He was neither an autocrat 
nor a tyrant. If he moved slowly sometimes, it was because it was 
better to move slowly, and, like the successful general that he was, 

20 



3o6 Life of William McKinley 

he was only waiting for his reserves to come up. Possessing almost 
unlimited power, he yet carried himself like one of the humblest of men. 
He weighed every subject. He considered and reflected upon every 
phase of public duty. He got the average judgment of the plain people. 
He had a high sense of justice, a clear understanding of the rights of 
others, and never needlessly inflicted an injiiiy upon any man. 

He said in response to a serenade, Nov. lo, 1864, just after his 
triumphant election lor a second term to the great ofiice of President: 

"Now that the election is over, may not all having a common interest 
reunite in a common effort to save our common country? For my own 
part, I have striven and shall strive to avoid placing any o1)stacie in tlic 
way. So long as I have been here I have not willingly planted a thorn 
in any man's bosom. While I am deeply sensible to the high compli- 
ment of a re-election, and duly grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God 
for having directed my countrymen to a right conclusion, as I think, for 
their own good, it adds notliing to my satisfaction that any other man 
may be disappointed or pained by the result." 

It is pleasant to note that in the very last public speech by President 
Lincoln, on April 11, 1865, he uttered noble sentiments of charity 
and good will similar to those of his sublime second inaugural, which 
were of peculiar interest to the people of the south. In discussing the 
question of reconstruction, he said : 

"VVe all agree that the seceded states, so called, are out of their 
proper practical relation with the union, and that the sole object of the 
government, civil and military, in regard to those states, is to again 
get them into that proper practical relation. I believe that it is not only 
possible, but in fact, easier, to do this without deciding or even con- 
sidering w^hether these states have ever been out of the union, than 
with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly imma- 
terial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing the 
acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations between these 
states and the union, and each forever after innocently indulging his own 
opinion whether in doing the acts he brought the states from without 
mto the union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never having 
been out of it." 

CLEARLY THE GREATEST MAN OF HIS TIME. 

Mr. President, it is not difiicult to place a correct estimate upon the 
character of Lincoln. He was the greatest man of his time, especially 
approved of God for the work He gave him to do. History abundantly 
proves his superiority as a leader, and establishes his constant reliance 
upon a higher power for guidance and support. The tendency of this 
ae-e is to ex?-^eration. bi^t of Lincoln certainly none have spoken more 
highly than those w'.o knew him best. 



\ 



Our Martyred President 307 

A distinguished orator of to-day (John J. Ingalls, of Kansas,) has 
said: "Lincohi surpassed all orators in eloquence; all diplomatists in 
wisdom; all statesmen in foresight, and the most ambitious in fame." 

This is in accord with the estimate of Stanton, who pronounced him 
"the most perfect ruler of men the world had ever seen." 

Seward, too, declared Lincoln "a man of destiny, with character 
made and molded by divine power to save a nation from perdition." 

()li\-er Wendell Holmes characterized him as "the true representa- 
tive of this continent; an entirely public man; father of his country; the 
pulse of twenty millions throbloing in his heart, the thought of their 
minds articulated by his tongue." 

Bancroft wisely observed : "Lincoln thought always of mankind, 
as well as his own country, and served human nature itself; he finished 
a work which all time cannot overthrow." 

Sumner said that in Lincoln "the west spoke to the east, pleading for 
human rights, as declared by our fathers." 

Horace Greeley, in speaking of the events wdiich led up to and 
embraced the rebellion, declared: "Other men were helpful, and nobly 
did tlicir part; yet, looking back^through the lifting mists of those seven 
eventful, tragic, trying glorious years, I clearh^ discern the one provi- 
dential leader, the indispensable hero of the great drama, Abraham 
Lincoln." 

James Russell Lowell was quick to perceive and proclaim Lincoln's 
greatness. In December, 1863, in a review of the "President's Policy," 
in the Atlantic ]\Ionthly, he said : "Perhaps none of our Presidents since 
Washington has stood so firm in the confidence of the people as Lincoln, 
after three years' stormy administration. * * * ^ profound com- 
mon sense is the best genius for statesmanship. Hitherto the wisdom 
of the President's measures has been justified by the fact that they 
always resulted in more firmly uniting public opinion." 

Lincoln is certainly the most sagacious and far-seeing statesman 
in the annals of American history. His entire public life justifies this 
estimate of him. It is notable that his stand on all public questions 
in his earlier as well as his later career stamp him as the wisest exponent 
of political truths we have ever had. 

WISE W^ORDS FOR THE PRESENT DAY. 

Witnessing the government as we do to-day, Avith its debt-increasing, 
bond-issuing, gold-depleting, labor-destroying low-tarifl:' policy, wnth 
what mighty force the w^ords of Lincoln, written more than half a century 
ago, come to us in this hour and emergency! They read as if written 



3o8 Life of William McKinley 

for the living present, not for the forgotten past. Why, do you know 
that as far hack as March i, 1843, at a whig meeting in Springfield, Mr. 
Lincoln offered a series of resohitions relating to the tariff which could 
well be accepted here to-night? They were then instantly and unani- 
mously adopted, and Mr. Lincoln was himself appointed to prepare 
an "Address to the People of the State" upon the subjects which they 
embraced. Let me read from this address his profound observations 
upon tariff and taxation and their relation to the condition of the country. 

He said : 

"The first of our resolutions declares a tariff of duties upon foreign 
importations, producing sufficient revenue for the support of the general 
government, and so adjusted as to protect American industry, to be 
indispensably necessary to the prosperity of the American people; and 
the second declares direct taxation for a national revenue to be improper. 

"For several years past the revenues of the government have been 
unequal to its expenditures, and consequently loan after loan, some- 
times direct and sometimes indirect in form, has been resorted to. By 
this meanr. a new national debt has been created, and is still growing 
on up with rapidity fearful to contemplate — a rapidity only reasonably 
to be expected in time of war. This state of things has been produced 
by a prevailing unwillingness either to increase the tariff or to resort to 
direct taxation. But the one or the other must come. Coming expendi- 
tures must be met, and the present debt must be paid, and money cannot 
always be borrowed for these objects. The system of loans is but tem- 
porary in its nature, and must soon explode. It is a system not only 
ruinous while it lasts, but one that must soon fail and leave us destitute. 
As an individual who undertakes to live l)y borrowing soon finds his 
original means devoured by interest, and, next, no one left to borrow 
from, so must it be with the government. 

"We repeat, then, that a tariff sufiicient for revenue, or a direct tax, 
must soon be resorted to, and. indeed, we believe this alternative is now 
denied liy no one. But which system shall be adopted? Some of our 
opponents, in theory, admit the propriety of a tariff for a revenue ; but 
even they will not in practice vote for such a tariff; while others boldly 
advocate direct taxation. Inasmuch, therefore, as some of them boldly 
advocate direct taxation, and all the rest — or so nearly all as to make 
exceptions needless — refuse to ad<)])t the tariff, we think it doing them 
no injustice to class them all as advocates of direct taxation. Indeed, 
we believe they are only delaying an open avowal of the system till they 
can assure themselves that the people will tolerate it. Let us then briefly 
compare the two- systems. The tariff is the cheaper system, because 
the duties, being collected in large parcels at a few commercial points, 



Our Martyred President 309 

will require comparatively few ofliccrs in their collection, while by the 
direct tax system the land must be literally covered wath assessors and 
collectors, going forth like swarms of Egyptian locusts, devouring every 
blade of grass and other green thing. 

"By this system (the protective) the man who contents himself 
to li\-e upon the products of his own country pays nothing at all. Surely 
our country is extensive enough and its products abundant and varied 
enough to answer all the real wants of its people. In short, by the 
protective system the burden of revenue falls almost entirely upon the 
wealthy and luxurious few, while the substantial and laboring many 
who live at home and upon home products, go entirely free. 

"By the direct tax system none can escape. However strictly the 
citizen may exclude from his premises all foreign luxuries — fine clothes, 
fine silks, rich wines, golden chains and diamond rings — still for the 
possession of his house, his barn, and his homespun, he is to be per- 
petually haunted and harassed by the tax-gatherer. With these views 
we leave it to be determined whether we or our opponents are the more 
truly democratic on the subject." 

WILL REAFFIRM PROTECTIOX IN 1896. 

"Perhaps it is not entirely accidental that these views of Mr. Lincoln 
fountl almost literal expression in the republican national platform of 
i860. Xor is it strange that this year, as in i860, no chart is needed 
to mark the republican position upon this great economic question. The 
whole world knew a year in advance of its utterance what the republican 
platform of i860 would be, and the whole world knows now, and has 
known for a year past, what the republican platform of 1896 will be. 

Then the battle was to arrest the spread of slave labor in America ; 
now it is to prevent the increase of illy paid and degraded free labor in 
America. The platform of 1896, I say, is already written — written in 
the hearts and the homes of the masses of our countrymen. It has 
been thought out around hundreds of thousands of American firesides — 
literally wrought out by the new conditions and harsh experiences of the 
past three years. 

On the great questions still unsettled, or in dispute between the 
dominant parties, we stand now just as we did in i860, for republican 
principles are unalterable. On the subject of protection to American 
labor and American interests we can reaffirm the Lincoln platform of 
i860. It needs neither amendment nor elaboration. Indeed, we could 
begin the platform of 1896 in the exact words with which the fathers 
of the republican party began the platform of i860. Its first plank, 
you will remember, reads as follows: 



3IO Life of William McKinley 

"Resolved, That the history of the nation during the last four 
years has fuhy estabhshed the propriety and necessity of the organ- 
ization and perpetuation of the rcpubHcan party, and that the causes 
winch called it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now, 
more than ever before, demand its peaceful and constitutional triumph." 

This was said near the close of the last democratic administration, 
which for a time controlled all branches of the national government. 
With what truth it applies to the present democratic administration, 
which for two years following March 4, 1893, again had control of all 
branches of the national government. 

THE LINCOLN TARIFF PLATFORM OF 1860. 

Now let me read the Lincoln platform on the tariff, adopted on ]\lay 
17, i860, by the second republican national convention, and I submit 
whether it does not express the sentiment of the great majority of the 
people of Illinois, and of the whole country, even better to-day than 
it did then. Here is what it said : 

"Resolved, That while providing revenue for the support of the 
general government by duties on imports, sound policy requires such 
an adjustment of these imports as to encourage the development of 
the industrial interests of the whole country; and we commend that 
policy of national exchanges which secures to the workingmen lilDcral 
wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufac- 
turers an adequate reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, and 
to the nation commercial pros])erity and independence." 

Better protection no republican could ask or desire; and poorer none 
should advocate or accept! We are faithfully wedded to the great 
principle of protection by every tie of party fealty and affection, and 
it is dearer to us now than ever before. Not only is it dearer to us 
as repuljlicans, but it has more devoted supporters among the great 
masses of the American people, irrespective of party, than at any previ- 
ous period in our national history. It is everywhere recognized and 
indorsed as the great, masterful, triumphant American principle — the 
key to our prosperity in business, the safest prop to the treasury of 
the United States, and the bulwark of our national independence and 
financial honor. 

The question of the continuance or abandonment of our protective 
system has been one great, overshadowing, or vital question in Ameri- 
can politics ever since Mr. Cleveland opened the contest in December. 
1887, to wliich the lamented James G. Blaine made swift reply from 
across the sea, and it will continue the issue until a truly American 
policy, for the good of America, is firmly established and perpetuated. 



Our Martyred President 311 

The fight win go on, and must go on, until the American system is 
everywhere recognized, until ail nations come to understand and respect 
it as distinctly, and all Americans come to honor or love it as dearly 
as they do the American tlag. God grant the day may soon come when 
all partisan contention over it is forever at an end ! 

The republican party is competent to carry tliis policy into effect. 
Whenever there is anything to be done for this country it is to the 
republican party we must look to have it done. We are not contend- 
ing for any particular tariff law, or laws, or for any special schedules, 
or rates, but for the great principle — the American protective policy — 
the temporary overthrow of which has brought distress and ruin to 
every part of our. beloved country. 

WILL UPHOLD AMERICAN LABOR. 

It may be asked what the next republican tariff law will provide. I 
cannot tell you. 1 cannot tell you what the schedules and rates will be, 
but they will measure the difference between American and European 
conditions — and v.-ill moreover be fully adequate to protect ourselves 
from the invasion of our markets by oriental products to the injury of 
American labor — and will in no case be too low to protect and exalt 
American labor, and promote and increase American production. 

I cannot better answer this grave inquiry than by an illustration of 
Mr. Lincoln's. Some one asked him, 'Tlow long a man's legs ought to 
be." He said. "That is a very serious question, and I have given much 
thought to it a great many times. Some should be longer and some 
shorter; but 1 want to tell you that a man's legs ought always to be 
long enough to reach from his body to the ground." And so I tell 
you. my inquiring free trade friend, that the legs of the next republi- 
can tariff* law will be long enough to firmly support the American body 
politic; sustain the public treasury; lift up our national credit, and 
uphiold the dignity and independence of American labor, and the enter- 
prises and occupations of the American people. 

No one need be in any doubt about what the republican party stands 
for. Its own history makes that too palpable and clear to admit of 
doubt. It stands for a reunited and recreated nation, based upon free 
and honest elections in every township, county, city, district and state 
in this great American union. It stands for the American fireside, 
and the flag of the nation. It stands for the American farm, the Amer- 
ican factory and the prosperity of all the American people. It stands 
.for a reciprocity that reciprocates and which does not yield up to 
another country a single day's labor that belongs to the American work- 
in'^men. It stands for international agreements which get as much 



k. 



312 Life of William McKinley 

as they give, upon terms of mutual advantage. It stands for an ex- 
change of our surphis home products fur such foreign products as we 
consume, but do not produce. It stands for the reciprocity of Blaine; 
for the reciprocity of Harrison; for the restoration and extension of 
the principle embodied in the reciprocity provision of the republican 
tariff of 1890. It stands for a foreign policy dictated by and imbued 
with a spirit that is genuinely American; for a policy that will revive 
the national spirit which carried us proudly througli the earlier years 
of the century. It stands for such a policy with all foreign nations 
as will insure both to us and them justice, impartiality, fairness, good 
faitli, dignity and honor. It stands fur the .Alonroe doctrine as' Mon- 
roe himself proclaimed it, about which there is no division whatever 
among the American people. It stands now, as ever, for honest money, 
and a chance to earn it by honest toil. It siands for a currency of gold,' 
silver and paper, with which to measure our exchanges that shall be as 
sound as the government and as untarnished as its honor. 

The republican party would as soon think of lowering the flag of 
our country as to contemplate with patience or without" protest \nd 
opposition any attempt to degrade or corrupt the medium of exchanges 
among our people. It can be relied upon in the future as in the past, 
to supply our country with the best money ever known, gold, silver' 
and paper, good the world ..^'er. It stands for a commercial p(.licy 
that will whiten every sea with the sails of American vessels, flying 
tlie American flag, and that will protect the flag wlierever it floats\ 
It^ stands for a system which will give the United States the balance 
of trade with e^'ery competing nation in the world. It is for a fiscal 
policy opposed to debts and deficiencies in time of peace, and favors 
the return of the government to a debt-paying, and opposes the contin- 
uance of a debt-making policy. 

PARTY W^ILL HOLD TO LINCOLN'S ADVICE. 

And, gentlemen of the Alarquette Club, let me tell you that the 
republican party, true to the advice and example of the immortal Lin- 
coln, is going to make the campaign this year upon its own ground, 
not upon its opponent's. That is to say, the republicans of the country 
are^ not going to help the democratic leaders obscure fhe issue on 
which their party has been wrecked and the administration stranded, 
by taking up every new incident about which a hue and cry may be 
raised. On the contrary, they will not be led off by side issues, but 
they will everywhere courageously insist that the people in November 
shall judge the administration and its party by their works and not by 
any new and boastful protestations by them. They will give due credit 



Our Martyred President 313 

for any sporadic outburst of patriotic fervor for our rights in foreign 
countries that the administration may choose to indulge in and rejoice 
that it is at last on the right side of a great question, which is where 
the republicans have always been. But the ship of state shall not be 
hu-ed into shallow waters by false lights. No new-born zeal for Amer- 
ican rights, or the national honor, from any quarter whatever, can 
raise an issue with the grand old republican party which for forty 
years has steadfastly maintained it both at home and abroad. The new 
convert belongs to our ranks and he is welcome, but he should remem- 
ber that he cannot put patriotism at issue with the party which has 
been the very embodiment of patriotism from its birth to the present 
hour. 

Gentlemen of the Marquette Club, and my fellow citizens, let us 
cherish the principles of our party and consecrate ourselves anew to 
their triumph. We have but to put our trust in the people; we have 
r)ut to keep in close touch with the people; we have but to hearken to 
the voice of the people, as it comes to us from every quarter; we have 
buc to paint on (Xir banners the sentiment the people have everywhere 
expressed at every election during tlie last three years — "Patriotism, 
])rotec!.ion and prosperity," to win another most glorious and decisive 
republican national victory, 

WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN. 

The greatest names in American history are Washington and Lin- 
coln. One is forever associated with the independence of the states 
and ft>rmation of the federal union; the other with universal freedom 
and the preservation of that union. Washington enforced the declara- 
tion of independence as against England; Lincoln proclaimed its ful- 
hilment not only to a downtrodden race in America, but to all people 
for all time, who may seek the protection of our flag. These illustrious 
men achieved grander results for mankind within a single century — 
from 1775 to 1865 — than any other men ever accomplished in all the 
years since first the flight of time began. Washington engaged in no 
ordinary revolution. With him it was not who should rule, but what 
should rule. He drew his sword, not for a change of rulers upon an 
esta1)lished throne, but to establish a new government, which should 
acknowledge no throne but the tribune of the people. Lincoln accepted 
war to save the union, the safeguard of our liberties, and re-established 
it on ''indestructible foundations" as forever "one and indivisible." 
To quote his own grand words : 

"Now we are contending that this nation under God shall have a 
new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the peo- 
ple, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 



314 Life of William McKinley 

Each lived to accomplish his appointed task. Each received the 
unbounded gratitude of the people of his time, and each is held in 
great and ever increasing reverence by posterity. The fame of each 
will never die; it will grow with the ages, because it is based upon 
imperishable service to humanity — not to the people of a single gen- 
eration or country, but to the whole human family, wherever scattered, 
forever. 

The present generation knows Washington only from history, and 
by that alone can judge him. Lincoln we know by history also, but 
tliousands are still living who participated in the great events in which 
he was leader and master. Many of his contemporaries survived him; 
some are here yet in almost every locality. So Lincoln is not far re- 
moved from us. Indeed, he may be said to be still known to- the mil- 
lions, not surrounded by the mists of anti(|uily nor l)y a halo of idol- 
atry that is impenetrable. 

He never was inaccessible to the i)eople. Thousands carry witli 
them yet the words which he spoke in their hearing; thousands remem- 
ber the pressure of his hand, and I remember, as though it were but 
yesterday, and tliousands of my comrades will recall, how, when he 
reviewed the Army of the Putomac, immediately after the battle of 
Antietam, his indescribably sad, thoughtful, far-seeing expression pierced 
every man's soul. Nobody could keep the people away from him, and 
when they came to him he would suffer n<3 one to drive them back. So 
it is that an imusually large number of the American people came to 
know this great man. and that he is still so well remembered by them. 
It cannot be said that they are mistaken about him or that they mis- 
interpreted his character and greatness. 

LIVING MEN LINK IIIM TO TODAY. 

Men are still connected with the government who served during his 
entire administration. There are at least two senators, and perhaps 
tvvice as many representatives, who participated in his first inaugura- 
tion ; men who stood side by side with him in trying duties of his admin- 
istration, and have been without interruption in one branch or another 
of the public service ever since. The Supreme Court of the United States 
still has among its members one whom Lincoln appointed, and so of 
other branches of the federal judiciary. His faithful private secretaries 
are still alive and have rendered posterity a great service in tlieir his- 
tory of Lincoln and his time. They have told the story of his life 
and public services wath such entire frankness and fidelitv as to exhibit 
to the world "the very innercourts of his soul." 

This host of witnesses, without exception, agree as to the true nobil- 



i 



Our Martyred President 315 

ity and intellectual greatness of Lincoln. All proudly claim for Lincoln 
the highest abilities and the most distinguished and self-sacrificing pat- 
riotism. Lincoln taught them, and has taught us, that no party or 
partisan can escape responsibility to the people; that no party advantage 
or presumed party advantage, should ever swerve us from the plain 
path of duty, \\hich is ever the path of honor and distinction. He 
emphasized his words by his daily life and deeds. He showed to the 
world by his lofty example, as well as by precept and maxim, that there 
are times when the voice of partisanship should be hushed and that of 
patriotism only be heeded. He taught that a good service done for 
the country, even in aid of an unfriendly administration, brings to the 
men and the party who rise abo\-e the temptation of temporary parti- 
san advantage a lasting gain in the respect and confidence of the peo- 
ple. He showed that such patriotic devotion is usually rewarded, not 
,,nly with retention in power and the consciousness of duty well and 
bravely done, but with the gratification of beholding the blessings of 
relief and prosperity, not of a party or section, but of the whole coun- 
try. This, he held, should be the first and great consideration of all 
public servants. 

When Lincoln died a grateful people, moved by a common mipulse, 
immediately placed him side by side with the immortal Washington, 
and unanimously proclaimed them the two greatest and best Americans. 
That verdict has not changed, and will not change, nor can we con- 
ceive how the historians of this or any age will ever determine what is 
so clearly a matter of pure personal opinion as to which of these noble 
men is entitled to greatest honor and homage from the people of 
America. 

ULTIMATE TEST OF HIS GREATNESS. 

A recent writer says : "The amazing growth Lincoln made in the 
esteem of his countrymen and the world while he was doing his great 
work has been paralleled by the increase of his fame in the years since 
he died." He might have added that, like every important event of 
his life Lincohvs fame rests upon a severer test than that of any other 
American. Never in all the ages of men have the acts, words, motives 
—even thouo-hts— of any statesman been so scrutinized, analyzed, studied 
or speculated upon as his. Yet from all inquirers, without distinction 
as to partv, church, section or country, from friend and from foe alike, 
con-.es the unanimous verdict that Abraham Lincoln must have no sec- 
ond pla^ce in American history, and that he will never be second to any 
in the reverent affections of the American people. 

Says the o-ifted Henrv Watterson, in a most beautiful, truthful and 
eloquent triUite to the great emancipator: "Born as lowly as the Son 



3^6 Life of William McKinley 

of God, reared in penury and squalor, with no gleam of light nor fair 
surroundings, it was reserved for this strange being, late in life, with- 
out name or fame or seeming preparation, to be snatched from obscurity, 
raised to supreme command at a supreme moment, and intrusted with 
the destiny of a nation. Where did Shakespeare get his genius? 
Where did Mozart get his music ? Whose hand smote the lyre of the 
Scottish plowman and staid the life of the German priest? God alone, 
and as surely as these w^ere raised by God, inspired o^ God was Abra- 
ham Lincoln; and a thousand years hence no story, no tragedy, no 
epic poem, will be filled w^ith greater wonder than that which tells of 
his life and death. If Lincoln was not inspired of God, then there is 
no such thing on earth as special Providence or the interposition of 
divine power in the affairs of men." 

My fellow citizens, a noble manhood, nobly consecrated to man, 
never dies. The martyr to liberty, the emancipator of a race, the savior 
of the only free government among men, may be buried from human 
sight, but his deeds will live in human gratitude forever. 

Great captains, with their guns and drums, 

Disturb our judgment ror the hour. 
But at last silence comes; 

These are all gone, and, standing like a tower, 
Our children shall behold his fame; 

The kindly, earnest, brave, far-seeing man, 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, ' 

New birth of our new soil, the first American. 



I 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Abraham Lincoln — Continued. 
Politician — Assassination — Stories — Final Burial — Chronology 

LINCOLN IN POLITICS. 

The lion. Henry S. Boutell, member of Congress from Illinois, resid- 
ing in Chicago, north side, has just received documents which show an 
interesting story of the political side of Abraham Lincoln's career. They 
consist of a couple of letters that the famous war president wrote nearly 
half a century ago, when he was a country lawyer and thought a seat in 
the United States Senate would be the limit of his political aspirations. 

Just after the national elections in the fall of 1854 it appeared that 
the democrats had lost control of the Illinois legislature. Lincoln thought 
he saw a chance to get into the United States Senate, and he began the 
campaign, which, although it ended in defeat at that time, continued to a 
climax in the series of great debates four years later between himself and 
Senator Steplien A. Douglas. 

Lincoln's reputation broadens. 

That incident broadened the boundaries of Lincoln's reputation from 
the state to the nation and brought him a seat in the White House as rec- 
ompense for the loss of a seat in the senate. T. J. Henderson was at that 
time a member of the Illinois State Senate. Later he was chosen to repre- 
sent in congress for many years the district for which Congressman 
Reeves now sits. 

To Representative Henderson Mr. Lincoln, in 1854, wrote the follow- 
ing letter asking for his vote for United States Senator : 

" ''Springfield, III., Nov. 27, 1854.— T. J. Henderson, Esq.— My 
Dear Sir: It has come round that a whig may by possibility be elected 
to the United States Senate, and I want the chance of being the man. You 
are a member of the legislature and have a vote to give. Think it over 
and see whether you can do better than to go for me. 

"Write me at'all events and let this be confidential. Yours truly. 

"A. Lincoln." 

There was another whig who "wanted the chance to be the man" and 

317 



3i8 Life of William McKinley 

was equally prompt in telling the Illinois legislators so. Representative 
Henderson wrote Mr. Lincoln a letter, in which he expressed himself as 
unwilling to make any promises for the present or to commit himself be- 
tween Mr. Lincoln and his leading opponent for the whig nomination. 

IN RESPONSE TO IIENDERSON's REPLY. 

Mr. Henderson's letter to Mr. Lincoln brought forth the following 
reply : 

"Springfield, III., Dec. 15, 1854. — Dear Sir: Yours of the nth 
was received last night, and fur which I thank you. Of course I prefer 
myself to all others; yet it is neither in my heart nor my conscience to 
say I am any better man than Mr. Williams. We, shall have a terrible 
struggle with our adversaries. Tliey are desperate and bent on desperate 
deeds. I accidentally learned of one of the leaders here writing to a 
member south of here in about the following language : 'We are beaten. 
They have a clear majority of at least 9 on joint ballot. They OUT- 
NUMBER us, but we must OUTMANAGE them. Douglas must be 
sustained. ^Ve must elect a Nebraska United States Senator or elect 
none at all.' Similar letters, no doubt, are written to every Nebraska 
member. Be considering how we can best meet and foil and beat them. I 
send you by this mail a copy of my Peoria speech. You may have seen 
it before or you may not think it worth seeing now. 

"Do not speak of the Nebraska letter mentioned above. I do not wish 
it to become public that I received such information. Yours truly, 

"A. Lincoln.'" 

DEMOCRATS HAD LOST. 

Abraham Lincoln was right when he asserted that the democrats had 
lost the legislature. The whigs and the anti-Nebraska democrats together 
possessed a narrow majority on joint ballot over the Nebraska demo- 
crats, as the followers of Douglas were called. The state of Illinois had 
voted at the November election of 1854 on the sole issue of supporting or 
condemning the action of Senator Douglas in fathering and passing the 
repeal of the famous dicker between the slave states known as the Mis- 
souri compromise, and the people of Illinois had pronounced their dis- 
approval of Senator Douglas' advocacy of tlie repeal, which was called 
the Kansas-Nebraska bill. . 

Lincoln secured the support of the majority of the whigs in the legis- 
lature and he led the whig vote for nine ballots, once coming within six 
votes of being elected United States Senator. At that point he became 
convinced that the supporters of Lyman Trumbull who had just been 
elected to congress from the Belleville district as an anti-Nebraska 



Our Martyred President 319 

democrat, would never vote for a whig, and rather than allow the anti- 
IJoug-las factions to miss their opportunity to place a representative in the 
United States senate to neutralize Douglas there, Mr. Lincoln generously 
tuld his friends on the tenth ballot to vote for Congressman-elect Trum- 
bull. 

HOW' TRUMBULL WAS ELECTED. 

Lincoln's followers obeyed and Lyman Trumbull bore off the prize on 
the tenth ballot by the close vote of 51 to 47, the Douglas democrats vot- 
ing for Governor Mattison, Archibald Williams, the whig opponent of 
Lincoln mentioned by Representati\'e Henderson, later had coals of fire 
heaped upon his head by Lincoln. When the latter became president one 
of his first acts was to appoint Mr. Williams as United States district 
judge for the state of Kansas. 

MURDER OF LINCOLN. 

Johnson Brigham tells the story of the murder of Lincoln as follows 
in the Chicago Rccord-Hcrald: 

Intense as is the indignation of this people, and of the world as well, 
over the "deed accursed" which resulted in the death of President 
McKinley, and deep as is the general sorrow over the nation's and the 
world's loss, happily there were no serious complications resultant there- 
from, and consequently there was no consternation when the end came. 

The killing of President Lincoln in the midst of the general rejoicing 
o\-er peace, after four years of awful war, was to this people both a 
shock and a fierce menace. Though the war was over, the period of 
reconstruction was just ahead. President Lincoln had long borne the 
burden of a struggle unparalleled in magnitude. The burden had been 
lifted. The cause of the Union — his cause — had grandly triumphed. 
His rugged strength had overcome both ridicule and censure; his mag- 
nanimity had made his former foes his friends; his demonstrated brain 
])ower. his rare soul qualities, and his remarkable devotion to public 
duty had won for him the love of his people and the admiration of tlie 
onlooking world. To him the people of the North had turned for deliv- 
erance from the new and unmeasurable perils. ^ 

PEOPLE LEFT LEADERLESS. 

Suddenly bereft of the one safe leader all trusted, when the shot 
was fired that left them leaderless. their first fierce indignation and deep 
grief left them with a sinking of heart over the awful possibilities of 
the situation. 

Let me present in outline a memory picture of that horrible night of 
nights and the days of gloom which followed as that picture is brought 



320 Life of William McKinley 

back to me by the recent memory-stirring tragedy— the accuracy of 
which outhne I have tested by reference to letters then written by me. 

On my way down Tenth street on the night of that fateful 14th of 
April I observed an unusual throng in front of Ford's Theater. My 
first intimation of the tragedy was a woman's exclamation: "Oh, it 
is terrible !" 

"What has happened?" I asked. 

"My God, boy!" exclaimed the woman; "haven't you heard? 
They've killed the President!" 

Seeing a tall, broad-shouldered man gesticulating, I drew near. A 
late comer, who had heard only part of his story, said : 

"Begin again and tell us all about it." 

STORY OF THE TRAGEDY. 

Stepping up on the rurbstone, the man began: "Well, to begin at 
the beginning, I was sitting in the gallery right where I could see what 
was going on in the President's box. About 9 I saw^ him come in — him 
and his wife and some young couple I didn't recognize. When the 
audience saw him, such a hand-clapping and hurrahing you never heard. 
It stopped the play. The President bowed to the audience from the box 
av.d took his seat; then he turned and said something to his wife that 
made her smile, and then the play went on again." 

"But how about the shooting?" 

"Pve just got to that. 'Twasn't long before I heard a pistol shot. 
First I thought it was part of the play; but when. I noticed the actors 
looking toward the President's box I knew something had happened. 

MRS. LINCOLN SCREx\MED. 

"Then I heard Mrs. Lincoln scream; and then I saw a man break 
away from the young man in the box and jump down onto the stage. 
Just as he jumped his spur caught in one of the flags and he fell. But 
he was on his feet again quicker'n a flash, and, turning toward the 
audience, he shouted something I couldn't quite understand; and then 
ran behind the scenes, limping as if he'd been hurt. 

"There in the l)Ox sat the President, his head dropped forward as 
though he'd fainted; his wife trying to bring him to, and crying and 
moaning as if her heart would break. 

"I rushed downstairs and into the dress circle. A man at the door 
tried to stop me. but I shook him oft', and a minute more I was wedged 
into the crowd in front of the box door. Some one shouted, 'Gentlemen, 
stand back and give him fresh air,' and then he asked if any body had 
aiiv stimulants. Then they carried the President out. across the street 
to Peterson's, yonder." 



Our Martyred President 321 

'"Could you see his lace as they carried him out?" 

■■\'es. 1 was that close to him" — measuring the distance with his 
liands. 

"What du yuu think? Is there any hope?" 

Tears started from the man's eyes as he answered: "I don't think; I 
know." 

Then some one asked : "Have they caught the villain yet?'' 

Xo one answered. 

HUNTED FOR ASS.\SSIN. 

**I believe I can find him. if the police can't," said the tall man, 
tarting for the alley. 

.\ score or nmre of us followed this born leader of men. We 
Kjjlorcd every shed, cellarway and passageway in the whole block; but, 
as the reader knows, the assassin was then well tm his way to meet his 
awful fate. 

I'inally. abandoning our search, we took our stand, with hundreds 
'f others, in front of the Peterson house. Every little while some one 
would ajipear at the door to answer the bell or send a messenger for 
Muncthing. ICvery lime the door oj)ened there was a general movement 
toward the do(jrsteps. but the movement was soon checked by the omi- 
nous shake of the head, which told us there was no hope. 

On the Tuesday following the sad Good Friday the east room of 
the executive mansion, where lay the remains of the President, was 
thrown open U) the public. All day a slow-moving line of mourners 
extended from the entrance far down the driveway and into the 
i\einic. 

NO SUGGESTION OF HORROR. 

The serene expression on the pale face in the coffin gave no sugges- 
tion of the horror of that last moment of consciousness. I fancied there 
remained a trace of the smile with which the President had received 
our enthusiastic .greeting four days before his death, on the occasion 
<^f his return from Richmond. 

The funeral occurred the next day. I vividly recall the long proces- 
sion slowly moving from the White House to the capitol, between 
dense masses of humanity, all strangely silent. I can still feel the 
impressive silence of the dimly lighted rotunda, relieved only by the 
shuftling of many feet as the line filed past the open casket. 

Rut why should I attempt to narrow this world-including sorrow^ 
within the limits of the nation's capital? As your older readers sadly 
remember, along the way from Washington to Springfield the people 
gathered in an almost unbroken line, and the tolling of bells w-as well 

21 



322 Life of William McKinley 

nigh continuous. Cities vied one with another in extraordinary honors 
paid the dead President. Great states, "as crape-veiled women stand- 
ing," tearfully received the nation's dead and tenderly passed on the 
sacred trust. No echo of that memorable home-coming was lost on the 
listening world. And even now, after the lapse of nearly fourscore years, 
every return of spring brings sad memories of that black night and 
the gray days that followed. 

A further account of the tragedy not found in Lincoln's biography 
has been furnished l)y a friend of Mr. William Withers, Jr. : 

It is a fact familiar perhaps to a very few that Withers, Jr., was 
the leader of the orchestra of that theater on the night of the assassina- 
tion, April 14, 1865, and prevented a frightful panic, although he was 
at the time unconscious of the important service he had rendered the 
audience. The story of Mr. Withers' experience of that night and the 
])art he took in the proceedings have never been fully told. In the 
most reliable histories of the war covering the assassination, such as 
Raymond's, Drake's and Greeley's, Mr. Withers' name is not mentioned, 
and it has been through his modesty and diffidence that the story is 
unrecorded. Every reader of the Herald, old or young, is familiar with 
the fact that the president was shot at about a quarter past 10 o'clock, 
by John Wilkes Booth, the actor, while sitting in a private box wit- 
nessing a performance of "Our American Cousin." It is also w^ell 
remembered that the day had been celebrated all over the country on 
account of the news flashed far and near that Lee had surrendered, 
and thus virtually ended the war of the rebellion. The cabinet had held 
a meeting that day, and at the close of the session, which had been 
remarkably harmonious, the President invited any member of his cabinet 
who felt so inclined to accompany him to the theater in honor of the 
events of the previous twenty- four hours ; but it seems that none accepted 
the mvitation. The President, Mrs. Lincoln, their son, a pupil of 
Mr. Withers, Major H. R. Rathbone, Senator Harris and his daughter. 
Miss Harris, made up the party. They occupied an upper box WHien 
the orchestra heard that the President was to be there, one of the musi- 
cians, an Italian named Taltavullo, suggested to Mr. \Mthers that the or- 
chestra flag, which was the property of the Italian, be used to decorate the 
front of the box, and it was accordingly raised. Mr. H. P. Phillips also 
composed a song for the occasion and handed it to ^Ir. Withers to set 
music to It. Mr. Withers composed a martial air, rehearsed the music 
Avith Miss Laura Keene, the leading ladv, the understanding being that 
the song was to be sung at the close of the second act bv Miss Keene the 
company joining in the chorus. The words of this song have never been 
printed. They are as follows, a copy from an old scrao^book, written by 



Our Martyred President 323 

T^Ir. Phillips, and now in Mr. Withers' possession, having been made for 
this purpose. The song is entitled — 

HONOR TO OUR SOI DIERS. 

Honor to our soldiers, 

Who for their country toil 
And fight the Union to preserve, 

With blood defend its soil. 
Cheered on by leaders whom they love. 

They've fought with heart and hand 
To make rebellion lose its sway 

In this our native land. 

Chorus — Repeat first four lines. 

Honor to our soldiers, 

The nation's greatest pride. 
Who 'neath the starry banner's folds 

Have fought, have bled and died. 
They're nature's noblest handiwork. 

No king so proud as they — 
God help the heroes of our land 

And cheer them on their way! 

Honor to our soldiers. 

Their victories ne'er shall cease 
Until our foes surrender 

And bless our land with peace. 
Our navy, too, shall have its fame, 

Our fl[ag shall ne'er be furled 
Until our foes at home — abroad — 

Shall feel we dare the world! 

]\rr. ^^'ithers had understood that this song should be sung at the 
close of the second act, but when the curtain was rung down he saw 
that the programme had l)een changed without consulting him. His 
story of what followed is this: As soon as the play had proceeded he 
went upon the stage, and, not seeing the stage manager, went to the 
prompter's desk at the wing, where ^Ir. J. B. Wright, the prompter, was 
on duty. The "governor," or gas apparatus, was in close proximity 
to Mr.' Wright's desk. The cover of this governor was open, and 



L 



324 Life of William McKinley 

Edward Spangler, assistant stage carpenter, and one of the conspirators, 
was standing beside it. Mr. Withers said, "Spangler, step away a 
moment, I want to speak to Mr. Wright." Spangler did not move. 
An angry frown overspread his face, and Mr. Withers peremptorily 
ordered him to go to his position as scene shifter. He started away 
muttering something, which Mr. Withers did not hear, and to which 
he paid no attention at the time. He inquired of Mr. Wright why 
the song had not been sung, and Wright said that the programme had 
been changed so as to have the piece brought in at the close of the 
performance. ''Go into the orchestra just before the finish," said Mr. 
Wright, "and get your instruments in tune, and we will make 
the song the finale," Mr. Withers said the effect would be 
lost by this proceeding, and, turning down the cover of the 
"governor," he partly sat down upon it, and suggested that the 
audience at the finish would begin to move and spoil the piece, winding- 
up the matter by telling Mr. Wright that, if produced at all, the song 
must be sung during the play. Just then the whistle blew for change 
of scene, and Spangler had to attend to the shifting. Mr. Withers then 
started down past the wings to a stairw^ay leading under the stage. 
Just as he w^as in the act of stepping down the first step he heard a 
]iistol shot. Surprised at the report, knowing that there was no shoot- 
ing in the play, he stopped and looked toward the proscenium. 

AN ENCOUNTER WITH BOOTH. 

At that instant Booth dashed into the passageway with a dagger in 
his hand. Withers was standing directly in line with the stage door 
or private entrance. His first thought was that Booth was looking for 
the man who had fired the shot; but the next instant the madman was 
upon him. thrusting at him with the dagger. The point of the weapon 
cut two holes in the coat worn by the musician, one on the back of the 
neck and the other on the right shoulder, going through all the clothing 
and through the skin. In the struggle Mr. Withers was knocked down 
and badly bruised, and Booth escaped through the private door. Before 
Mr. Withers could get upon his feet Harry Hawke, the actor, came 
rushing through the passageway after Booth, and fell over the prostrate 
form of Mr. Withers. It was then for the first time that the musician 
learned what had happened. He still has the coat he wore on that mem- 
orable occasion. It is an evening dress coat of blue-black broadcloth. 
He exhibited it to the reporter, put it on, and described how Booth 
attacked him and the exact position he was in when the thrusts were 
made. The only words uttered by Booth were, "Get out of my way! 
get out of my wvav. or I'll kill vou !" 



Our Martyred President 325 

The flag which has a place in history was in the possession of Mr. 
Withers for a long time, but was subsequently given to its owner, who 
resided in ^Memphis, and is now, Mr. Withers believes, in Washington. 
The flag, it will be remembered, was torn by Booth's spur, which caught 
in it as he jumped from the box to the stage, and it was this accident 
to the assassin that caused his leg to be broken. 

Edward Spangler died on the 19th of February, 1874, at the resi- 
dence of Dr. Mudd, of Baltimore, a co-conspirator, with whom he had 
suffered imprisonment. Before his death he made a confession, which 
has been communicated to Mr. Withers, in effect that the presence of 
the musician at the "governor" prevented a fearful panic. He (Spang- 
ler) was hovering around the instrument with the intention of turning 
off the gas in the auditorium the moment Booth landed on the stage. 
The cover was up to facilitate that operation, and had he not been 
ordered away by Mr. Withers, who turned the cover down to sit upon 
it, the gas would have been turned oft, and nobody would have known 
to a certainty who assassinated the president. Booth was not recognized 
at the time of his leap by the audience; but Miss Keene, who stood at 
the wings, recognized him, and shouted to the audience, "It's John 
Wilkes Booth !" At that time he was struggling with Mr. Withers at 
the rear of the stage. The turning off of the gas at the proper time, 
Mr. Withers believes, would have allowed the assassin to escape unrec- 
ognized, and would have led to further tragic results. 

NEW STORIES OF LINCOLN. 

REMINISCENCES MISSED BY HIS BIOGRAPHERS GATHERED IN THE "OLD 

salem'' region. 

Uncle Henry Sears, Aunt Vashti, and other "old settlers" of the 
Old Salem region, delight in giving their personal recollections of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, while that "rather gawkish awd awkward youth was keep- 
ing store on the banks of the Sangamon," and relate some recollections 
that have failed to reach any of Mr. Lincoln's biographers. 

LINCOLN A WRESTLER. 

The late Jesse Baker said: "The new clerk in the Salem store 
drew much attention from the very first. His striking, awkward and 
generally peculiar appearance advertised the store round about, and 
drew many customers, who never quit trading there as long as young 
Abe Lincoln clerked in the establishment. He gave -good weight; he 
was chock full of accommodation, and he wasn't a smart Aleck . A 
large majority of the people, after making his acquaintance, said : He 



326 Life of William McKinley 

has a heart as big as a flour barrel and a head full of the best kind of 
brains.' All liked him excepting the few rowdies of Clary's Grove 
and the boss buhy, Hickey. Hickey was attracted to the store about 
four days after the new clerk's arrival. Boss Hickey took his meas- 
ure and forthwith bantered him for a wrestle. Lincoln pleasantly 
informed the intruding ruffian that he would rather be excused, as he 
didn't feel like dirtying his fine clothes. Hickey, however, harped 
away on his single-tuned lyre until young Abe consented to 'wrestle 
in a playful way.' Mr. Baker watched the store and viewed the con- 
flict. The performers shook hands, clinched, and fell among a luxuriant 
growth of dog-fennel and smart-weeds. Hickey foamed and tried 
to choke Lincohi, who repelled that charge by rubbing the under fel- 
low's face with a bunch of smart-weeds. It made him howl ; the smart- 
ing quite vanquished him ; he cried 'Enough,' and Lincoln calmly arose 
from his game, and that was the only fight he ever fought while in the 
Sangamon country. Hickey quit drinking, joined the church, and 
solemnly confessed his many sins at the prayer meetings." 

Lincoln's dog. 

Uncle Baker said that he subsequently, when Lincoln had become 
a surveyor, sometimes carried the chain for him, and distinctly remem- 
bered being along with him on Quiver creek in Mason county during 
the presidential race between Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. Lin- 
coln was a strong Whig, while the other surveyor was a fierce Demo- 
crat. Each owned a dog. Lincoln's dog was named Clay, while the 
other's title was Jackson. While camping near Simmons' mill the dogs 
treed a coon. The surveyors betted $5 on their respective curs. Lin- 
coln hastily climbed the tree on a rude "Indian ladder," and crawling on 
the coon limb he shook it with such force that it broke, throwing the 
varmint and himself among the dogs. Young Abe sprained his ankle, 
but Clay mopped the ground with the coon and rejoiced all over with 
his tail, for his master had won the $5. 

ANN RUTLEDGE. 

Uncle Henry Sears and his wife. Aunt Vashti, say that they were 
well acquainted with storekeeper Lincoln and his lady-love, Ann Rut- 
ledge. They attended her funeral, and think that such a nice girl as 
Ann was deserves a handsome tombstone. "Young Lincoln took her 
death awful hard." they say. He strolled moodily around the neigh- 
borhood for the next three or four weeks, humming sad songs, and 
writing them with chalk on fences and barns. It was generally feared 
that the death of Ann Rutledge would drive him insane. 



Our Martyred President 327 



LINCOLN IN A MOCK TRIAL. 



About SLx of the distressed youth's sympathizing friends coaxed him 
to accompany them to Springtield, where other events chased away 
much of his grief and turned him towards the study and practice of 
law. Ihere was one "dressy"' man among the six jovial Salemites. 
He purchased a broadcloth coat before leaving Springfield for home, 
which was the first coat of that cloth seen in old Salem. While fooling 
with a group around a burning candle the dandy's broadcloth coat 
came in contact with the flame, burning quite a hole in the much-talked- 
about garment. The belligerent applejack and other aggravating cir- 
cumstances would have caused a lively fist fight then and there if young 
Lincoln hadn't effected a satisfactory compromise. It was agreed to 
run the dispute through the Salem justice mill, that Lincoln should 
plead the coat-owner's and coat-burners' sides of the case, and that the 
winner should pay the costs and drinks for all present in court. The 
mock court opened twenty minutes after the interested parties reached 
Salem. The mill was crowded with eager spectators before the case 
was prosecuted and defended by the lawyer for each side. The rustics 
marveled much at Lincoln's knowledge of law, his common sense, his 
impregnable logic, and his serio-comic stories. He gained the case for 
both his clients, applejack was supplied the lot, and everybody present 
wondered and asked young Lincoln : "Why don't you become a lawyer ?" 
He answered their question by becoming one. 

FINAL REMOVAL OF THE BODY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

For the thirteenth time the body of Abraham Lincoln was removed 
at Springfield. Illinois. September 26, 1901. The casket contaimng the 
remains now lies imbedded in an iron cage within a solid block of cement 
beneath the monument in Oak Ridge Cemetery. 

The casket was opened and eighteen persons were permitted to 
look upon the features of the great emancipator before the body was 
lowered to what is now believed to be its last resting place. Governor 
Yates, who was out of the State, was represented on t'le Board ot 
Trustees of the National Lincoln Monument by Actmg Governor John 

I. Brenholt. of Alton. r 1 1 1 

' Those who were permitted to look upon the features of the dcac. 
were Adjutant General J. N. Reece, Major E. S. Johnson, custodian of 
the monument; Joseph P. Lindley, Clinton L. Conkhng, George N. 
Black secretarv of the National Lincoln Monument Association; Actmg 
Governor Brenholt. Captain J. H. Freeman, M. O. Williamson. Colonel 
[. S. Culver, the contractor who reconstructed the monument; I^. K. 



328 Life of William McKinley 

Whittemore, J. S. McCullough, Jacob Thompson, second assist- 
ant superintendent of public instruction; B. D. Monroe, assistant attor- 
ney general; Mrs. Alfred Bayliss, Mrs. E. S. Johnson, and the two 
plumbers who opened the casket. 

IDENTIFICATION IS POSITIVE. 

The identification of the remains was positive. The features are 
said to have been extremely pallid, and it is said that this condition was 
due to a film that has crept over the face. The beard could be plainly 
seen and the chin was prominent, while the hair had begun to fall out. 
The headrest had decayed, letting the head fall back. 

The shirt front was well preserved, as was also the black silk stock 
that Lincoln wore about his neck. The rest of the clothing had com- 
menced to fall to pieces. 

BURIAL BENEATH MASONRY. 

At 1 1 :45 of the above date the wooden box containing the casket 
was carried from the north side of the monument to Memorial Hall on 
the south side. Six laborers performed this duty. An hour later, after 
identification had been made, the casket was taken back to the north side 
of the monument and then lowered to the vault beneath. Workmen 
then began the task of securing the casket under the mass of masonry. 

Newspaper men were excluded from Memorial Hall when the casket 
was opened and the greatest secrecy w^as maintained. Even the glass 
in the single door opening into the room was covered with paper to 
guard against the intrusion of curious eyes. The two plumbers who 
opened the metallic casket were Leon P. Hopkins, of Springfield, who 
performed the same duty seventeen years ago, and Charles L. Willey, 
also of Springfield. 

OFFICIAL REPORT OF TRANSFER. 

The following official report of the transfer was given to the public 
this afternoon by Acting Governor Brenholt: 

"At a meeting of the commissioners of the Lincoln monument held 
this day, in pursuance of a call by Acting Governor Brenholt, at the 
Memorial Hall of the monument, it was agreed that the casket of Abra- 
ham Lincoln be opened for identification prior to placing the casket in 
the permanent vault. 

"In the presence of several members of the Lincoln Guard of Honor 
the casket was opened and the remains viewed by the persons present and 
fully identified. It was found that the remains were in a good state of 
preservation. After which the casket was resealed and consigned in our 
presence t(T the place prepared for the same in the monument. 



Our Martyred President 329 

"It was agreed that this statement be given to the pnbHc througli 
the press, together with the certificate of the Lincohr Guard of Honor, 
which is subjoined herewith. 

"John J. Brenholt^ 

"Acting Governor. 

"M. O. Williamson, 

"Treasurer. 

"Jos. H. Freeman, 

"Assistant State Superintendent." 

CERTIFICATE OF IDENTIFICATION. 

"We, the undersigned, do hereby certify that on this twenty-sixth day 
of Septemljer, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and 
one, we were present at the Lincoln monument in Oak Ridge Cemetery 
at Springfield, in the State of Illinois, and by request of the commis- 
sioners of the Lincoln monument, acting in their official capacity, under 
their appointment, by virtue of an act of the General Assembly of the 
State of Illinois, we perscjnally viewed the remains of Abraham Lincoln, 
the casket having been opened for that purpose by direction of said com- 
missioners. 

"We further certify that the remains so viewed by us are in fact 
those of Abraham Lincoln ; that we saw the same before they were first 
laid to rest ; that we were each personally present at the same place on 
the fourteenth day of^\pril, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred 
and eightv-seven, and then viewed the remains, and we again identify 
them as the same. 

"We further certify that we were present at the place and day first 
mentioned, and saw the same casket containing these sacred remains 
placed in their final resting place in the Lincoln monument, under the 
direction of said commissioners. 

"George N. Black, 

"Secretary 
and Member of the National Lincoln Monument Association. 

"J. N. Reece, 
"Edward S. Johnson, 
"Joseph P. Lindley, 
"Clinton L. Conkling, 
"Members of the Lincohi Guard of Honor." 

chronology OF Lincoln's life. 

Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in the county of 
LaRue, in the state of Kentucky. 

He first attended school at Little Pidgeon Creek in the winter of 18 19. 



330 Life of William McKinley 

Three or four years later he attended Crawford's school in the same 
locality. 

In 1826 he received his last schooling under the tuition of Mr. 
Swaney. To reach this "institution of learning," he walked four miles 
and a half each way. 

Later, as a "hired boy," he taught himself as best he could with 
his rude surroundings, often "siphering" on a wooden fire shovel or 
anything else that came in his way. 

His reading was very limited, being confined to two or three books, 
but fortunately he had access to the great fountain of Biblical literature. 

Obtaining access to the "Revised Statutes of Indiana," which could 
not be loaned from the constable's office, he early laid the foundation for 
legal study. 

In 1 83 1, he went to New^ Orleans on a flat-boat, with a little cargo 
of pork, hogs and corn. It was here that he first saw some of the abom- 
inations of slavery and the slave trade. The workings of the system 
greatly depressed him, and drew from him the emphatic and almost 
prophetic exclamation, "If I ever get a chance to hit slavery, I'll hit it 
hard." 

It was after his return from this trip that he found an English 
grammar, and mastered it by the light of pine knots during the long 
winter evenings. 

The Black Hawk war broke out in 1832, and Lincoln enlisted. 
Although without military experience, his personal popularity made him 
captain of his company. 

After the war was over he became a candidate for the state legis- 
lature, and although he was defeated, the campaign was of great service 
to him in the way of experience. 

He began the study of law with borrowed books, and put his own 
knowledge into practice by drawing up legal papers, and also conducting 
small cases without remuneration. 

Many volumes pertaining to the sciences now found their way into 
his hands, and also some of the standard works of literature. 

He then sought and obtained the post of deputy surveyor of Sanga- 
mon county, and in this work he Ijecame an expert. He w^as often 
sought for as a referee when trouble arose concerning boundary 
lines, etc. 

From 1833 to 1836 he was the postmaster of New Salem, having 
received the appointment as a Jackson democrat. 

It was during this time he again became a candidate for the legis- 
lature. His campaign was personally conducted, and this time he was 
the victorious candidate. 



Our Martyred President 331 

It was at this session of the legislature that he met his great oppo- 
nent, Stephen A. Douglas. In time, he fully accorded him the title ot 
"The Little Giant." . 

In August of 1835, Lincoln met with a terrible loss, bemg no less 
than the death of Ann Rutledge, the beautiful girl to whom he was 
'betrothed Nearly thirty years afterward he spoke lovingly of her to 
an old friend. "The death of this fair girl," said Mr. Herndon, "shat- 
tered Lincoln's happmess. He threw^ off his infinite sorrow only by 
leaping wildly into the political arena." 

In 1836 he was again a candidate for the legislature. He was self- 
nominated, for this was before the days of caucuses and conventions 
In the New Salem Journal he announced his platform, which contained 
a suffrage plank to the effect that all men and women who either bore 
arms, or paid taxes, should be allowed to vote. , • , 1 1 

Lincoln was elected in triumph. Sangamon county, which had 
usually gone democratic, voting the whig ticket by more than four 
hundred majority. . 

In 1837 Mr. Lincoln moved to Springfield, where his active lite as a 
lawyer began, the state capital having been moved about that time from 

' In November of 1823 he was married to Miss Mary Todd. 
Mr Lincoln was first elected to congress in 1846. 
One year later he took his seat as a member of the Thirtieth Con- 
gress Other notable members at this time were Ex-President John 
Ouincy Adams, Andrew Johnson, Alex. H. Stephens, besides Robert 
Toombs Robert B. Rhett and others. In the senate were Daniel Web- 
ster, Simon Cameron, Lewis Cass. John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis. 
At the close of his congressional services m 1849, Mr. Lincoln le- 
turned to Springfield and resumed the practice of law, although his fees 
were considered by his legal brethren "ridiculously small." _ 

During the contest in Kansas, in 1855, Lincoln s views on the 

subject of slavery were fully expressed in a radical letter to Mi . Speed. 

In i8s8 Lincoln held his notable debates with Stephen A. Douglas. 

In '1860 Abraham Lincoln received the nomination of the republican 

party for the Presidency; Stephen A. Douglas was the nommee of the 

democratic party and these two prominent men were again rivals. 

Threatening times succeeded his election witn the whole country 
aroused by threats of secession. . 

In March of 1861 he was inaugurated amidst the most ominous con- 
ditions that a new president was ever called upon to face. 

He delivered an inaugural address which for wisdom and consistency 
has never been surpassed. 






332 i Life of William McKinley 

Following the fr.ll of Fort Sumter, Mr. Lincoln issued, on the 151I1 
day of April, a call for 75,000 volunteers. 

Four days later he issued a proclamation for the blockade of southern 
ports. 

In 1862 he met with the terrible loss by death of his son Willie. 
Li the midst of this great trial his thoughts reverted to his own mother, 
whom he lost when a child. "I remember her prayers," he said, "they 
have always followed me — they have clung to me all my life." 

During the long war he was everywhere busy doing everything pos- 
sible for the comfort of the soldiers, especially the sick and wounded. 

On January i, 1863, the emancipation proclamation was issued. 

Following logically the policy of the emancipation act, he began the 
experiment of introducing colored troops into the armies of the United 
States. 

In 1864 Abraham Lincoln was again elected President of the United 
States. 

About the middle of August, 1864. an attempt was made upon 
Lincoln's life one evening as he was riding back from the Soldiers' 
Home. ^ The bullet of the would-be assassin passed through the silk 
hat which the President wore, but at his request the matter was kept * 
quiet. 

On March 4, 1865, Mr. Lincoln was again inaugurated as President 
of the United States. 

The great rebellion was brought to a successful close with great re- 
joicing over General Lee's surrender. 

On the afternoon before his death lie signed a pardon for a soldier 
who was under a death sentence. This act of mercy was his last official 
order. 

On the 14th of April he fell by the hand of an assassin and the nation 
was m mourning. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

James A. Garfield. 

McKinley's Sketch of His Life. 

"Mr. Speaker:— Comi)\ymg with an act of congress passed July, 
1864, inviting each of the states of the Union to present to National 
Statuary Hall the statues of two of its deceased citizens 'illustrious of 
their heroic renown, or distinguished by civic or military services' worthy 
of national commemoration, Ohio brings her tirst contribution in the 
marble statue of James Abram Garfield. There were other citizens of 
Ohio earlier associated with the history and progress of the state and 
illustrious in the nation's annals who might have been fitly chosen for 
this exalted honor. Governors, United States senators, members of the 
supreme judiciarv of the nation, closely identified with the growth and 
greatness of the state, who fill a large space in their country's history; 
soldiers of high achievement in the earlier and later wars of the Republic ; 
cabinet ministers, trusted associates of the martyred Lincoln, who had 
developed matchless ([ualities and accomplished masterly results m the 
nation's supreme crisis; but from the roll of illustrious names the unan- 
imous voice of Ohio called the youngest and latest of her historic dead, 
the scholar, the soldier, the national representative, the United States 
senator-elect, the president of the people, the upright citizen, and the 
designation is evervwhere received with approval and acclaim. 

"By the action of the authorities of the state he loved so well and 
served so long, and now, by the action of the national congress in which 
he was so long a conspicuous figure, he keeps company to-day with 'the 
immortal circle' in the old Hall of Representatives, which he was wont 
to call the Third House,' where his strong features and majestic form, 
represented in marble, will attract the homage of the present and suc- 
ceedino- o-enerations, as in life his great character and commanding qual- 
ities earned the admiration of the citizens of his own state and the nation 
at laro-e while the lessons of his life and the teachings of his broad 
mind will be cherished and remembered when marble and statues have 

crumbled to decay. 

"Tames A Garfield was born on the 19th day of November, 1831 
in Orange, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and died at Elberon, m the state of 



333 



3-^4 Life of William McKinley 

New Jersey, on tlie 19th day of September, 1881. His boyhood and youth 
differed little from otliers of his own time. His parents were very poor. 
He worked from an early age, like most boys of that period. He was 
neither ashamed nor afraid of manual labor, and engaged in it resolutely 
for the means to maintain and educate himself. He entered Williams 
College, in the state of Massachusetts, in 1854, and graduated with honor 
two years later, when he assumed charge of Hiram College in his own 
state. 

"In 1859 he was elected to the senate of Ohio, being its youngest 
member. Strong men were his associates in that body, men who have 
since held high stations in the public service. Some of them were his 
colleagues here. In this, his first political office, he displayed a high 
order of ability, and developed some of the great qualities which after- 
ward distinguished his illustrious career. 

"In August, 1 86 1, he entered the Union army, and in September fol- 
lowing was commissioned colonel of the Forty-second Ohio Infantry Vol- 
unteers. He was promoted successively brigadier and major-general of 
the United States Volunteers, and while yet in the army was elected to 
congress, remaining in the field more than a year after his election, and 
resigning only in time to take his seat in the house, December 7, 1863. 
His military service secured him his first national prominence. He 
showed himself competent to command in the field, although without 
previous training. He could plan battles and fight them successfully. 
As an officer, he was exceptionally popular, beloved by his men, many of 
whom were his former students, respected and honored by his superiors 
in rank, and his martial cjualities and gallant behavior were more than 
once commended in general orders and rewarded by the government with 
, well-merited promotion. 

"He brought t(^ this wide range of subjects vast learning and com- 
prehensive judgment. He enlightened and strengthened every cause he 
advocated. Great in dealing with them all, dull and commonplace in 
none, but to me he was the strongest, broadest, and bravest when he spoke 
for honest money, the fulfillment of the nation's promises, the resumption 
of specie payments, and the maintenance of the public faith. He con- 
tributed his share, in full measure, to secure national honesty and pre- 
serve inviolate our national honor. None did more, few, if any, so 
much, to bring the government back to a sound, stable, and constitutional 
money. He was a very giant in those memorable struggles, and it 
required upon his ])art the exercise of the highest courage. A consider- 
able element of his party was against him, notably in his own state 
and some parts of his congressional district. The mad passion of infla- 
tion and irredeemable currency was sweeping through the West, with 



Our Martyred President 335 

the gre^itest fury in his own state. He was assailed for his convictions, 
and was threatened with defeat. He was the special target of the hate 
and prejudice of those who stood against the honest fulfillment of 
natitnial obligations. In a letter to a friend on New Year's eve, 1867- 
'08, he wrote : 

" 'I have just returned from a tedious trip to Ashtabula, where I 
made a two hours" speech on finance, and when I came home, came 
through a storm of paper-money denunciation in Cleveland, only to find 
on my arrival here a sixteen-page letter, full of alarm and prophecy of 
my political ruin for my opinions on the currency.' 

"To the same friend he wrote in 1878 : 

" 'On the whole it is probable I will stand again for the house. I am 
not sure, however, but the Nineteenth district will go back upon me upon 
the silver question. If they do, I shall count it an honorable discharge.' 

"These and more of the same tenor, which I might produce from his 
correspondence, show the extreme peril attending his position upon the 
currency and silver questions, but he never flinched, he never wavered; 
he faced all the dangers, assumed all the risks, voting and speaking for 
what he believed would secure the highest .good. He stood at the fore- 
front, with the waves of an adverse popular sentiment beating against 
him, threatening his political ruin, fearlessly contending for sound prin- 
ciples of finance against public clamor and a time-serving policy. To me 
his greatest effort was made on this floor in the Fifty-fifth congress, 
from his old seat yonder near the center aisle. He was at his best. He 
rose to the highest requirements of the subject and the occasion. His 
mind and soul were absorbed with his topic. He felt the full responsi- 
bility of his position and the necessity of averting a policy (the abandon- 
ment of specie resumption) which he believed would be disastrous to the 
highest interests of the country. Unfriendly criticism seemed only to 
give him breadth of contemplation and boldness and force of utterance. 

"In General Garfield, as in Lincoln and Grant, we find the best repre- 
sentation of the possibilities of American life. Boy and man, he typifies 
American youth and manhood, and illustrates the beneficence and glory 
of our free institutions. His early struggles for an education, his self- 
support, his 'lack of means,' his youthful yearnings, find a prototype in 
every city, village, and hamlet of the land. 

''His broad and benevolent nature made him the friend of all man- 
kind. He loved the young men of the country, and drew them to him 
by the thoughtful concern with which he regarded them. He was gen- 
erous in his helpfulness to all, and to his encouragement and words of 
cheer many are indebted for much of their success in life. In personal 
character he was clean and without reproach. As a citizen, he loved his 



336 Life of William McKinley 

country and her institutions, and was proud of her progress and pros- 
perity. As a scholar and a man of letters, he took higli rank. As an 
orator, he was exceptionally strong and gifted. As a soldier, he stood 
abreast with the bravest and best of the citizen soldiery of the Republic. 
As a legislator, his most enduring testimonial will be found in the records 
of congress and the statutes of his country. As president, he displayed 
moderation and wisdom, with executive ability, which gave the highest 
assurance of a most successful and illustrious administration. 

"Mr. Speaker, another place of great honor we fill to-day. Nobly 
and worthily is it filled. Garfield, whose eloquent words I have just 
pronounced, has joined Winthrop and Adams, and the other illustrious 
ones, as one of 'the elect of the states,' peopling yonder venerable and 
beautiful hall. He receives his high credentials from the hands of the 
state which has withheld from him none of her honors, and history will 
ratify the choice. We add another to the immortal membership. Another 
enters 'the sacred circle.' In silent eloquence from the 'American Pan- 
theon' another speaks, whose life-work, with its treasures of wisdom, 
its wealth of achievement, and its priceless memories, will remain to us 
and our descendants a precious legacy forever and forever." — Accepting 
the statue of Garfield, presented by the State of Ohio, House of Repre- 
sentatives, January ip, 18S6. 

GARFIELD IN THE CIVIL WAR. 

When the Civil War broke out Garfield offered his services to his 
country and they were at once accepted. He began his new life as lieu- 
tenant-colonel, but of the art and science of war he knew little. 

It was probably the only office he ever accepted without suitable 
qualifications. But he set himself to learn. With saw and plane he 
fashioned whole armies out of maple blocks, and with these wooden- 
headed, but thoroughly manageable, soldiers he mastered the whole 
range of infantry tactics. 

Garfield was now thirty years of age. His regiment; the Forty- 
second Ohio, was ready for the field. Owing to Garfield's constant 
training, it had the reputation of being the best drilled regiment in 
Ohio, and in recognition of his faithful services he was made a full 
colonel. 

Orders came to report to Buell at Louisville. The regiment was to 
go^ for its baptism of fire. As Garfield took leave of Ifis mother she 
quietly and patrioticallv said : 

"Go, my son: your life belongs to vour country." 
^ The confederate general, Humphrey Marshall, was moving in on 
eastern Kentucky. Buell laid the situation before Garfield and said : 




I 



Our Martyred President 337 

"Now, if you were in command of this sub-district, what would you 
do? Report your answer here at nine o'clock to-morrow morning." 

Garfield studied the situation. At nine o'clock he laid his plan 
before Buell. whose skilled eye mastered it in a moment. He was sat- 
isfied. 

"All right," he said, "proceed with the least possible delay, to the 
mouth of the Sandy, and move with your force in that vicinity up that 
river. Drive the enemy back or cut him off. I must commit all mat- 
ters of detail, Colonel, to your discretion." 

Garfield had fifteen hundred men. Marshall had forty-six hundred, 
and they were entrenched. 

Three roads led out from Garfield's headquarters to where the 
enemy lay. Strategy must be made to make up for lack of men. 

Bradley Brown, a man Garfield had known on the Ohio canal, had 
been brought in by the pickets. He asked to see the colonel. 

Garfield received him, and said : 

"What, is this Brown; are you a rebel?" 

"Yes," said the visitor, "I belong to Marshall's force, and I've come 
straight from him to spy on your army." 

"Well, you have a queer way of going about it," said Garfield. 

"Well, you see, when I heard that you was in command down here, 
I determined, for old times' sake, to help ye." 

"I advise you to go back to Marshall," said Garfield, "and tell him 
all about my strength and intended movements." 

"But how kin I ? I don't know a thing about it." 

"Guess," said Garfield. 

"You'd orter have ten thousand men to do anything against Mar- 
shall, I reckon." 

"That will do for a guess," said Garfield. "Now, tell Marshall I 
shall attack in about ten days." 

Brown did as Garfield suggested, and Marshall awaited an attack 
in force. Garfield sent a detachment along each of the three roads, 
strong enough to drive in Marshall's outposts. 

One after another these Confederate pickets came in to camp and 
reported that the Yankees were coming in large numbers. Marshall 
was puzzled. He did not know where to look for the attack, and, in 
his dilemma, withdrew with his whole force. Garfield quietly took pos- 
session. 

The whole thing was a huge practical joke; but one which the 
enemy would not appreciate. 

Garfield had showed himself a strategist of the first order. He had 

22 



I 



338 Life of William McKinley 

executed a plan that required boldness and dash, and had done himself 
the greatest credit. 

Garfield had gained a great advantage, but it must be followed up. 
despite the odds. 

Marshall took a new position on a semi-circular hill at the forks of 
Middle Creek. It was well chosen and supported by twelve pieces of 
artillery. But Garfield had been sent to cut Marshall off, or drive him 
out, and he prepared for the attack. 

Up one spur of the mountain he sent a detachment of Hiram College 
boys, Garfield on a rocky height watched the tide of battle. He saw 
that it was unequal, and that they would lose the hill if not supported. 

Instantly he sent five hundred men under Major Pardee to the 
rescue. Then turning to his stafi^, he asked : 

"Who will volunteer to carry the other mountain?" 

Colonel Munroe quickly stood forward. 

"Go in, then," cries Garfield, "and give them Hail Columbia!" 

From noon till dark the eleven hundred men under Garfield con- 
tended against overpowering odds. Alternate hopes and fears filled the 
heart of the Union commander. 

Suddenly a starry banner was seen waving over an advancing host. 
It was Selden with reinforcements. Panic seized the enemy. The 
eleven hundred were fired by new energy, and with a final charge the 
day was won. 

Shortly after dark a bright light blazed up behind the hill of battle. 
It was the Confederate general's last fire. In it he consumed every- 
thing that would hinder flight or be of value to his foe, and by the light 
started with his troops for Pound Gap. 

Military writers have awarded Garfield great praise for the cam- 
paign. It was well planned and daringly executed. The victory at 
Middle Creek over an entrenched foe four times the number of his own 
is a feat almost unparalleled in the history of the war. 

The little army was victorious, but it had less than three days' 
supply of provisions, and the roads were impassable from mud. There 
was the river; but it was swollen with rain. 

What was to l)e done? 

Garfield asked the advice of the ex-canalman. Brown, who had 
again sought Garfield from Marshall's camp. 

"It's which and t'other. General Jim," he said, "starvin' or drown- 
in'. I'd ruther drowai 'n starve. So give the word, and, dead or 
alive, I'll git down the river." 

Garfield gave the word ; but went with him on the perilous voyage. 
At the mouth of the river he found and took possession of a little 



Our Martyred President 33g 

steamer in the service of the quartermaster. She was loaded with pro- 
visions and headed up the stream. 

"We cannot make it," said the captain. But Garfield ordered the 
chicken-hearted fellow away and himself took the helm. 

The river surged and boiled. With every turn of the wheel the 
boat trembled from stem to stern. Three miles an hour was all they 
. could make with all steam on. 

At night the captain begged to tie up till morning, but Brown cried 
out : 

"Put her ahead. General Jim," and he drove her on through the 
darkness. All night, all the next day and all the following night they 
struggled with the furious tide. 

The waiting men were wild with joy as the boat rounded into view 
of the Union camp. The one-time canal boy had saved the army from 
starvation. He had risked his life a dozen times, and but for his early 
experience on the Evening Star he would never have been able to bring 
the steamer up the foaming river. 

Of the whole forty-eight hours spent in climbing the Big Sandy, 
Garfield had been absent from the wheel but eight hours. 

He was formed for a soldier's idol. 

Marshall disappeared in a shower of ridicule and sarcasm from 
both sides. Garfield was made brigadier-general. 

The fortunes of war finally found him on that field of blood, glory 
and disaster at Chickamauga. Seventy thousand Confederates and 
fifty-five thousand Federal soldiers were massed against each other. 

It is said Garfield wrote every order on that field except that fatal 
one to Wood. That order lost the battle on the right. McCook's 
whole corps w^as fleeing, a horde of panic-stricken, frightened soldiers, 
back towards Chattanooga. 

A trampmg Hood of human beings, reft of reason, caught the gen- 
eral and chief-of-staff in its rush. Garfield, dismounted, with his figure 
towering above the surging mass, snatched the colors from the flee- 
ing standard-bearer. 

The general hastily planted the staff in the ground. Seizing men 
to the right and left he faced them about and formed the nucleus of a 
stand. His ringing appeals made no impression on the dead ears of 
the unhearing men. reft of all human attributes save fear. 

A panic is a disease which nothing can stay. His exertions were 
vain. The moment he took his hands from a man he fled. The mad- 
dened crowd swept on. 

Garfield turned away to wliere the thunder of guns proclaimed the 
heart of the battle to beat fiercest. Almost alone he reached Thomas ; 



340 Life of William McKinley 

informed him how lie could withdraw his right, form a new line and 
meet Longstreet. 

Thomas, the army, and its honor, were saved. As night closed on 
that awful day, with the warm' stream of blood from the ghastly 
wounded and recently killed rising from the burdened earth, Garfield 
still stood personally directing the loading and pointing of a battery 
that sent its shot crashing after the retiring foe. Thus closed the Ijat- 
tle of Chickamauga. 

What was left of the Union army was left in possession of the field. 
Garfield hurried to Washington with dispatches. 

On his arrival he found himself a full major-general of volunteers 
— "for gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Chickamauga." 

CHRONOLOGICAL EVENTS OF GARFIELD's LIFE. 

Was born in Orange, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, 19th of November, 
1831. 

Went to school in a log hut at three years of age. 

At ten years of age he was accustomed to manual labor. 

By the time he was fourteen, young Garfield had a fair knowledge 
of arithmetic and grammar. 

In 1848 he went to Cleveland and proposed to ship as a sailor on 
board a lake schooner, but became a canal boy and soon secured promo- 
tion from the tow path to the boat. 

During the winter of 1849-50 he attended the Geauga seminary, at 
Chester, Ohio, about ten miles from his home. 

He was converted under the instructions of a Campbellite preacher, 
was baptized and received into that denomination. 

In 185 1 he entered the Hiram Eclectic Institute (now Hiram Col- 
lege), at Hiram, Portage county, Ohio. 

Entering Williams college in the autumn of 1854, he was duly 
graduated with the highest honors in the class of 1856. 

On his return to Ohio, in 1856, he resumed his place as a teacher of 
Latin and Greek at Hiram institute, and the next year, 1857, being then 
only twenty-six years of age, he was made its president. 

Without solicitation or thought on his part, in 1859 l""^ '^'^'^s sent to 
represent the counties of Summit and Portage in the senate of Ohio. 

In August, 1 86 1, Governor William Dennison commissioned him 
lieutenant-colonel in the Forty-second Regiment of Ohio Volunteers. 

Promoted to the command of this regiment, he drilled it into military 
efficiency while waiting orders to the front. 

In December, 1861, he reported to Gen. Buell, in Louisville, Ky. ; the 
general was so impressed by the soldierly condition of the regiment that 



Our Martyred President 341 

he gave Col. Garfield a brigade and assigned him the difficult task of 
driving the Confederate general, Humphrey Marshall, from eastern 
Kentucky. 

Gen. Garfield was thirty-two years old when he entered the Thirty- 
eighth congress, 1863-1864. 

In the Thirty-ninth congress, 1865, he was changed, at his own 
request, from the committee on military affairs to the ways and means 
committee. 

In the Fortieth congress (1867) he was restored to his old commit- 
tee on military affairs, and made its chairman. 

In 1876, Gen. Garfield went to is^ew Orleans at President Grant's 
request, in company with Senators Sherman and Matthews and other 
republicans, to w^itch the counting of the Louisiana vote. 

In the Forty-first congress a new committee — that on banking and 
currency — was created, and Garfield was very properly made its chair- 
man. 

In the Forty-second congress he was chairman of the committee on 
appropriations. 

In the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth (1879), and Forty-sixth congresses 
(1880), (the house being democratic), he was assigned a place on the 
committee of ways and means. 

In June, 1880, the republican convention to nominate a successor to 
President Hayes was held in Chicago, and to it came Garfield, natur- 
ally, at the head of the Ohio delegation. 

He received his nomination the 8th of June, 1880. Gen. Garfield 
left the convention and accepted the nomination by letter. 

In a moment of special exultation on the morning of July 2, 1881, 
he was shot by a disappointed office-seeker named Guiteau. Fie 
lingered until September 15, 188 1. when symptoms of blood poisoning- 
appeared, and after a few hours of unconsciousness he died peacefully 
on September 19, 1881. 

DEAT]]I5E'3 SCENES OF PRESIDENTS LINCOLN AND GARFIELD CONTRASTED. 

The deathbed scenes of President Lincoln and President Garfield 
bore little similarity to each other. Mr. Lincoln received a brain wound, 
the fatal ball lodging under the right eye, after having entered the skull 
in the rear. Had John Wilkes Booth diagramed the skull before he 
fired and determined wdiere he would produce certain, painless death, 
he could not have more accurately ended Mr. Lincoln's career than he 
did. The President never knew that he was shot ; never knew what 
hand dealt him the blow; never suffered during the last nine hours 
prior to his death. 



342 Life of William McKinley 

He was shot in Ford's Theater, Washington, April 14, 1865, about 
10 o'clock at night. Laura Keene was the particular star upon the stage, 
and she was presenting "Our American Cousin." When the shot was 
fired by Booth President Lincoln's head fell forward on the cushioned 
rail of the theater box. Mrs. Lincoln and others bent over him. His 
lips were moving and there was a twitching of the hands, but no speech. 
He was picked up in the bright playhouse, now filled with horror-stricken 
people, and stretched out on the floor. Blood was coming from the 
back of his head and he was deathly pale. His eyes did not open. He 
made no sign of life except as the heart feebly beat. 

SURGEONS WERE HELPLESS. 

Surgeons came, surgeons who had little of the technical knowledge 
of today. They said he was dying, that he could not be moved to the 
White House, but must be taken to some place near by, where instant 
attention could be given him. The moon rose at 10 that night, throwing 
its light to the earth through a half-clouded sky. The effect was weird 
in shadow and light. Major Rathbone and Captain Crawford directed 
the carrying of the President out of the theater to a house just across 
the street. He was laid upon a bed in a small room at the rear of the 
hall, not even to die in the place where four glorious years of his life 
had been passed. 

Mrs. Lincoln followed, half distracted, tenderly cared for by a com- 
panion, Miss Llarris. The surgeons bent over the President, but could 
do nothing for him. It was a derringer bullet that had entered his 
brain, just as a derringer bullet ended Mr. McKinley's life. John Play, 
now secretary of state, then Major Hay, was sitting in an upper room of 
the White House with Robert Lincoln. They were hastily called to No. 
453 Tenth street, where the President lay. 

LIVED NINE HOURS. 

The President remained unconscious during the night. His wound 
would have brought instant death to most men, but his vital tenacity was 
extraordinary. His breathing came slow and regular all through the 
long hours of waiting for the end. At daylight his pulse began to fail 
and the automatic moaning which had gone on through the night ceased. 
A look of unspeakable peace came upon his worn features. At twenty- 
two minutes after 7 the morning of April 15, 1865, a little more than 
nine hours after he was shot, Mr. Lincoln was no more. 

Secretary Stanton was the first to break the silence, by saying: 

"Now he belongs to the ages." 

Rev. Dr. Gurley knelt in prayer. Mrs. Lincoln came in from an 



Our Martyred President 343 

,aioi„in- room with her son and thre,N- herself upon the Ufeless body 
w a oud cry. In the room when the President d,ed were Surgeon 
C me Surgeon General Barnes, Charles Sumner, Major Hay, Secretary 
'\ • S rmry Stanton and otl,er prominent n,en of the tn.es. They 
turned away as the sobs of Mrs. Lincoln rose above her dead, 

DEATH OF GARFIELD. 

President Garfield was shot at 9:30 in the morning. July 2, 188. 
hv Clnrles T Guiteau, The shooting took place m the Baltnnore v nl 
Ohio ™adon at Vashington. where tl,e President, with Mr. Blan.e was 
?w hi fa train. The bullet entered the body from the rear, struck th 
'™ ne a^Kl produced an injury or.linarily fatal. Much hope was held 
r d,o gh for the President's recovery by the surgeons n, attendance 
He was promptly removed to the White House, where he lay ni g.ea 
..on- until SepenLr 6, when, a special car having been cons rnctea 
r inm he was conveyed to Elberon Long Branch, that tl>e sea bree. s 
,nic.bt benefit him. There he died, September 19. 1881, Gaiheld w_as 
to^ during the greater part of his dlness He was confident or 
„,any weeks that he would recover. He had mdom.table wdl and ext.a 
ordinary courage. 

READY FOR THE END. 

His mother and wife were with bin,, and he clung to them througli 
-,11 In terrible ordeal. After his arrival at Elberon there was a shg t 
r 1 k t cry sl.ght. Terrible sinking spells came, and on the 19th 
■ ' Lptll3er,^ahn, prepared, conscious, he hfed his eyes .jpwa« saw 
the radiance .,f a new day, and so parted w.th life Mis Gaiheld, Is 
son a several members of his cabinet were by his bedside when he 
died The end had been expected for some little t,me-t was only a 

'"cni'fidkliartings with those he loved form the most touching parts 
of h s hi o V He had given the best of himself to his w, e and he 
had wordiipe^l his mother! It was over her he bent, after he had taken 
thp oath of oflice as President, and kissed her. . 

"I havefeith," he said, when he realized the shadows were closing 

'" "Jit'-s'tving you that hurts most," he whispered to the wife by 



I 



his side. , • i 

Once he put out his wasted hand and said 
"If it is God's will so he it." 
And God's will prevailed. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Theodore Roosevelt. 
Birth, Pohtical History and War Experience. 

The youngest of our presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, entered upon 
the duties of his high office weh equipped for its arduous duties and 
high responsibilities. His knowledge of books and experience with 
men and affairs had been wide and varied, probably greater than that 
of many of his predecessors. His brilliant career had made him the 
cynosure of all eyes, and this had been emphasized by his prominent 
mention as a candidate for the presidency, previous to the meeting of the 
republican convention at Philadelphia in 1900. 

Theodore Roosevelt was the fifth vice president of the nation to 
succeed the president with whom he was chosen to ofiice. John Tyler 
was the first, succeeding William Henry Harrison. Next came Millard 
Fillmore, who succeeded Zachary Taylor. Andrew Johnson succeeded 
Abraham Lincoln and Chester A. Arthur took the place of James A. 
Garfield. Three of the five vice presidents owe their advancement to 
the assassin's bullet. 

Mr. Roosevelt is better known to the nation than was Tyler, Fill- 
more, Johnson or Arthur when the latter became president. Roosevelt 
has come with credit from the various public tests he has passed through 
— as legislator, author, civil service commissioner, police commissioner, 
assistant secretary of the navy, soldier and vice president. 

Chronologically considered, the epochs in Mr. Roosevelt's life cover 
but few years, yet show an advancement that has never before been 
equaled, even by the most ambiti(xis and successful of /\mericans. The 
dates follow closely and punctuate his almost meteoric course : 

Born in New York City, October 27, 1858. 
Entered Harvard college in 1880. 
Elected to New York legislature 1881. 
Re-elected to legislature 1883. 
Cattle and ranchman 1884 to 1886. 
Defeated for mayor of New York 1886. 
Member national civil service commission 1889. 

344 



I 



Our Martyred President 345 

New York police commissioner 1894. 

Assistant secretary of navy 1897-98. 

Colonel Spanish-American war 1898. 

Governor New York 1899- 1900. 

Vice President United States March 4, 1901. 

President United States September 14, 1901. 

Mr. Roosex'clt is of Dutch extraction on his father's side, his paternal 
ancestors having been representati\e citizens of the Empire state for 
eight generations. His mother was a Miss Martha Bullock of Georgia, a 
family distinguished in tlie South as far back as revolutionary times, 
when a governor of that name occupied the executive mansion. 

l^heodore Roosevelt appeared to have but a brief life before him. 
He was weakly as a child; as a boy he could not join in the rougher 
sports of his associates. At 20 he was almost an invalid. In early man- 
hood he realized that something would have to be done to improve his 
physical condition, and at Harvard he became identified with the less 
boisterous sports of his classmates. He became expert at lightweight 
boxing and was soon recognized as the most skillful among the young 
men of his age. He graduated well up in his class in 1880, and still 
feeling the need of physical strengthening, went to Europe, where he 
climbed the Jungfrau and the Alatterhorn and became a member of the 
Alpine Club by reason of these achievements. 

Returning to New Y'ork, he studied law and quietly entered pol- 
itics. "I have always believed," he said, "that every man should join 
a political organization and should attend the primaries ; that he should 
not be content to be merely governed, but should do his part of that 
work. So after leaving college I went to the local political headquarters, 
attended all the meetings and took my part in whatever came up. There 
arose a revolt against the member of assembly from that district, and I 
was nominated to succeed him and was elected." 

This was in 1881, and he was twice re-elected. There in that Albany 
morass of legislative corruption young Roosevelt began his political 
career. Modestly but unceasingly he made fierce war on criminal politics. 
By many he was considered but an assertive, well-meaning young man 
with correct ideas (absurd in practical politics)— a sort of visiting dele- 
gate from the Y. M. C. A. trying to run the Albany legislature, with 
its Thurlow Weed traditions, on a Sunday school basis. 

But Roosevelt was soon discovered to be a knockdown fighter. One 
by one he smashed the idols of the famous lobby. One by one he attacked 
the corrupt departments of the New York city government, and spread 
astonishment among his opponents. 

Upward he mounted, became republican candidate for speaker in his 



346 Life of William McKinley 

second assembly year, and in the year following was made chairman of 
the committee on cities. Then began his fight for reform, preparing 
the way for the upheaval that came with the Lexow-Parkhurst-Goff in- 
vestigation, following the notable investigation of his own committee 
in the early "80s. 

The democrats soon realized that young Roosevelt was as able as 
he was honest, a tireless worker and as merciless as a gatling gun. He 
was found to be dangerous, a man to be let alone unless the amlndance 
was near. He gave and totjk hard knocks, and each day became more 
formidable with bits of dynamite in his arguments. 

About this time the heaviest blow of a man's career fell upon him. 
His dear niother and wife died in one week. That touch of sorrow 
made him new and lifelong friends among men of both parties. 

In 1884, the never to be ft)rgotten year of the Blaine campaign, Mr. 
Roosevelt was recognized as a power in the state and made a delegate 
to the rejRiblican national convention to lead the Edmunds forces, and, 
though opposed to Mr. Blaine, refused to follow the bolters who went 
over to Cleveland, for he believed he could do nothing except through 
the regular party organization. 

"Whatever good I have accomplished," he said, "has been through 
the republican party." So he entered the campaign and made speeches, 
and then went to his Dakota ranch and spent two years wn-iting and 
shooting. It was in that Western home that he developed his taste for 
cowboy life, became a crack shot and bronco rider and expert with the 
lariat. He killed big game and wrote his books on "Ranch Life" and 
"The W^inning of the West." 

We next find him a candidate for mayor of New York, in the famous 
Henry George campaign, when Abram S. Hewitt won on the Tammany 
ticket and Henry George was counted out, he declared. Under the cir- 
cumstances Roosevelt made a strong fight, and President Harrison ap- 
pointed him to the civil service commission, where he made a brilliant 
record, increasing the number of positions of the civil service list from 
1,400 to 40,000. 

He resigned this position to become police commissioner in New 
York city under the reform administration of Mayor Strong. When 
a literary friend expressed surprise that a man of his scholarly attain- 
ments should enter on a police crusade, he said : 

"I thought the storm center was in New York, and so I came here. 
It is a great piece of practical work. I like to take hold of work that 
has been done by a Tammany leader, and do it as well, only by approach- 
ing it from the opposite direction. The thing that attracted me to it 
was that it was to be done in the hurly-burly, for I don't like cloister life." 



Our Martyred President 347 

The new commissioner stirred up the town. The regulation reform- 
ers did not know whether to applaud or curse. Many declared that his 
rig-id enforcement of the excise law enabled Tammany to return to 
])ower by capturing the votes of liquor men who had temporarily joined 
the reformers. In reply Roosevelt said he had sworn to enforce all the 
laws and he would not compromise his conscience. Besides, he held 
that the best way to get a bad law repealed was to rigidly enforce it. 

While a police commissioner in New York city, Mr. Roosevelt did 
not depend on the reports of his subordinates to learn whether his orders 
were being obeyed and that the reforms he recommended were being 
carried out, but pursued the simple, effective method of personally visit- 
ing the patrolmen of the force on their beats at night. On one of these 
trips he found two policemen drinking in a saloon. 'Ts this the way 
you do your duty?" he asked, quietly. Neither of the officers had seen 
the commissioner before and they took him for some prying stranger. 
"What's that to you?" replied one of the men. "Get out of here or we 
will throw you out." Mr. Roosevelt did not get out. Nor did he lose 
his temper. He replied in the same quiet voice: "No, I will not go 
out. I am Police Commissioner Roosevelt, and I am looking for men 
like you who do not obey my orders. Come to my office to-morrow." 
The men apologized, but it was of no use. They called at the commis- 
sioner's office the next day and were reduced. 

On another of these incognito tours he saw one policeman capture 
a dangerous burglar and another risk his life to save a family from a 
burning building. The commissioner did what he could to help in both 
cases, and when the work was over he thanked the men personally for 
their bra\'ery and invited them to call at his office. \Vhen they called 
they were again praised and thanked and notified that they had been 
promoted. 

He said to a newspaper writer once, at the close of a meeting, that he 
believed a majority of policemen were good men. He believed in giving 
ex'ery applicant a chance to show what he could do and treating him 
honcstlv and fairly, regardless of his nationality, politics, religion or 
"pull."' 

"We have every country represented on the police force." he said. 
"Hebrews working harmoniously with Irishmen ; Germans making good 
records with Spaniards — in fact, every nationality is represented almost 
but the Chinese, and I find the men as a class willing to give faithful 
service. When men find the official in charge of them consistent, always 
keeping his word to the letter, they will soon begin following the ex- 
ample set before them. Treat a man squarely and you will get square 
treatment in return. That is human nature and sound doctrine, whether 
in the police or in any other department." 



348 Life of William McKinley 

Being an honest man and determined to do his duty fearlessly and 
without favor, Mr. Roosevelt was not caught in the many traps set for 
him. All attempts to ensnare him were failures and soon appeared so 
ridiculous that he became the best "let alone" official in the city gov- 
ernment. 

ROOSEVELT, THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY PREPARATIONS 

FOR WAR. 

When Tammany took possession of New York, Theodore Roosevelt 
left the police department to become assistant secretary of the navy at 
Washington. It seemed an unimportant, obscure position, but he made 
it, by the sheer force of his personality, one of the important levers m 
our successful war with Spain. 

He had long been familiar with naval matters, historically and 
theoretically, and it was only a short time before his associates realized 
that he was a man to be depended upon, for practical considerations 

as well. 

He seemed to have a kind of prophetic insight into the future, for 
long before the United States was stirred from center to circumference 
by the explosion of the Maine, he exclaimed to a friend in New York : 
"We shall be compelled to fight Spain within a year." 

From the date of his appointment, in April, 1897, he began to make 
ready for such an event with a vigor that took away the breath of more 
conservative naval officers. "To be prepared for war is the most 
effectual means to promote peace," was the subject upon which he 
addressed a class at the naval academy of Annapolis. He carried out 
this maxim of Washington to its fullest conclusion. He hastened work 
on the new warships and ordered repairs on the old ones. Neither did 
he content himself with giving directions. He saw to it personally that 
they were carried out. No man who came wathin the radius of his 
authority was suffered to shirk. He seemed ubiquitous. As illustrative 
of hisbthoroughness is a characteristic remark, which made his inefficient 
employes shudder. 

"In ordinary routine matters," he said, "if a man does ordinarily 
well I am satisfied ; but if he doesn't do the work of importance in the 
navy with the snap and vigor I believe is necessary, I'll cinch him till 
he squeals." 

Roosevelt also issued orders that the crew of every ship be recruited 
to its full strength. He began to buy provisions, guns and ammuni- 
tion, and to insist on more extended gunnery practice, which seemed 
extravagant to some of his less radical brethren. He filled the bins of 
every supply station with coal. Accordingly, when Dewey steamc*,! 



Our Martyred President 349 

across the Pacific, he found fuel waiting for him. Without the unnec- 
essary delay of an instant, the Admiral took on his coal and sailed calmly 
by the astonished Spaniards, who supposed him miles away. 

Events justified Roosevelt in the preparations he had made. The 
result of his course was so obvious as to make Senator Davis, chairman 
of the senate committee on foreign relations, declare that if it had not 
been for Roosevelt we should fiot have been able to strike the blow 
that we did at Manila. Because of the forethought, therefore, of the 
assistant secretary of the navy, one of the most brilliant victories in our 
history was made possible. 

Secretary Roosevelt was occupied not only with the material needs 
of the navy, but he found time also to accomplish a change in the admin- 
istration of it. which will be of great advantage for years to come. This 
change found expression in the well-known naval personal bill, which 
amalgamates the line and engineer corps of the navy. By means of it 
the work of the navy department in detailing officers for duty will be 
made much simpler, since every officer of the new line will be able to 
perform any of the duties which involve the management of large 
bodies of men or the control of machinery. 

The issue with Spain was held off as long as possible, to give the 
war department time to gather itself for the coming struggle, but finally 
the words rang through the country : 

"War is declared!" 

The naval department was overwhelmed with new duties and respon- 
sibilities. Like the rest of its members, Theodore Roosevelt scarcely 
allowed himself time to eat and sleep. Among numberless other thing's, 
he had the immediate charge of purchasing vessels for the auxiliary 
fleet. There were to be sixty of them, as staunch and well adapted for 
service as it was possible to find. 

Again the country profited by his unimpeachable honesty. Ship- 
brokers flocked to him by the dozen. They had hulks to sell in various 
stages of disrepair and rottenness. They had powerful backing, too. 
But they found Roosevelt as hard as adamant. 

He refused unconditionally to buy any ships not recommended by 
the board which examined them and pronounced upon their merits. 
The board was made up of careful, expert men, and no unfit vessel won 
their approbation. So the ship-brokers found the task of cheating the 
navy too difficult for them and retired discomfited. As a consequence 
the auxiliary fleet was one to which the country could commit with 
safety the lives of her loyal sons. He set himself against the bureaucracy 
that had marked time with such inefficiency that the ships could get no 
powder for target practice. His intense effort soon secured an appro- 



350 Life of VViUiam McKinley 

priation of $800,000. Within a month he was back with a request for 
$500,000 more. 

"But where is the $800,000 you got?" he was asked. 
"Burned," was the laconic reply. 

And it was the burning of that powder, in part, that made Dewey's 
gunners invincible at Manila. 

Roosevelt describes himself, during this time, as "sharpening the 
tools of the navy." When the task was accomplished to the satisfac- 
tion of every one concerned, he gave way to the desire which was over- 
whelming him. "There, is nothing more for me to do here," he said. 
"I've got to get into the fight myself." 

A furor arose. His friends tried to dissuade him. and all the lead- 
ing newspapers of the country assured him that he was taking just 
the right course to ruin his career. They told him that there were 
plenty of men to stop bullets but very few who could manage a navy. 

"You are leaving a wife and six children," said one of the female 
population, with tears in her eyes. 

"I have done as much as any one to bring on this war," replied 
Roosevelt, "and shall I shirk now?" 

His resignation was therefore tendered, and accepted with much 
regret by the President and Secretary Long. He was free to carry out 
the plan w'hich had enlisted his interest so thoroughly. 

American history was as familiar to Secretary Roosevelt as his 
a b c's. He knew all about jMad Anthony Wayne; the dramatic story 
of Marion's men in the American Revolution, and the part that the 
Texas Rangers played in the Mexican war. What Andy Jackson's 
soldiers did in the war of 18 12 stirred his martial spirit, too. and from a 
knowledge of the deeds accomplished by all these commanders, he con- 
cluded that such service would be invaluable in the Spanish war. 

Congress, agreeing with him, authorized the raising of three cavalry 
regiments from among the wild riders and riflemen of the Rockies and 
the great plains. Roosevelt was offered the command of one of them. 
His knowledge of military matters was established by practical experi- 
ment, for as far back as 1884 he had been a lieutenant of the Eighth 
regiment of the National Guard of the State of New York. He after- 
wards rose to the rank of captain, and remained a militiaman for more 
than four years. 

He felt that he C(3uld learn how to command a regiment in a month, 
but that the month at that time was of inestimable importance to the 
country. So he declined the commission of colonel. 

"Later," he said, "after I have gained some experience, perhaps that 
may come." It did come, not a colonelcy only, but a recommendation 
also for the medal of honor for gallant conduct in action. 



Our Martyred President 351 

Roosevelt, therefore, was appointed lieutenant colonel of the regi- 
ment, and Dr. Leonard Wood its colonel. The two commanders were 
overwhelmed with applications from every state in the Union for mem- 
bership in their regiment. They found that the difficulty lay not in 
selecting men, but in rejecting them. As far as numbers went, they 
could have raised a division as easily as a regiment. 

Finally choice was made among all the candidates, whose great 
longing was to get to the front with this regiment into the thick of the 
fight. The result was a body of picked men so perfect in physique, 
health and courage that it would have been difficult to match them 
anywhere. 

Perhaps no other regiment that ever existed held quite so many 
elements peaceably within its limits. The red Indian stood beside a 
college graduate, the cowboy outlaw made friends with the ex-policeman 
from New York; the son of a millionaire fraternized with the man who 
did not know where his next dime was coming from, and the minister 
shared his tent with the atheist. 

As a demonstration of practical Americanism, this regiment was 
one of the most effective lessons which the country has had for many a 
long day. All distinctions of race, birth and circumstances were for- 
gotten. The purpose of every man was to find his duty and to do it, 
whatever it might be. 

The first camp of the Rough Riders during the period of organiza- 
tion and discipline was at San Antonio, Tex. There the regiment learned 
• to pull together, to feel itself as a body and to test its strength. Soldier 
and officer went at their new tasks with a will, determined that by no 
fault of theirs should the regiment fall into disrepute. With this feel- 
ing predominant the task of bringing unity of action out of all the 
great variety of men gathered together was comparatively easy to ac- 
complish. 

Colonel Wood and Colonel Roosevelt had put in their requests early 
at the war office and had badgered the authorities so constantly that 
weapons and supplies were forthcoming just when they needed them. 
The last of the rifles had been received. The regiment had drilled so 
diligently that it was ready to do effective, intelligent service wher- 
ever it might be called. 

Then the welcome order flashed over the telegraph wires : "Move 

to Tampa." 

By this time the many different elements had shaken down together 
and'tlie regiment had emerged from its preparatory stage as a corporate 
body. The reversal of positions was so complete that it seemed as if 
the whole scheme of social distinctions must have been shaken up m a 



352 Life of William McKinley 

kaleidoscope. During the hot, dusty journey to Tampa, for instance, 
anyone with a sense of humor would have appreciated the sight of 
James Tailer and Robert Ferguson, two of the most fastidious members 
of the Knickerbocker Club of New York, serving canned corn beef, beans 
and hardtack, three times each day, to the hungry troopers. 

Hamilton Fish, Jr., and William Tiffany, nephew of Mrs. August 
Belmcjnt and a grand-nephew of Commodore Oliver H. Perry, the hero 
of the battle of Lake Erie, had charge of the freight cars containing 
the baled hay for the horses. They fought as well as they worked, for 
Hamilton Fish was the jfirst Rough Rider killed by Spanish fire and 
William Tiffany lived only long enough after the war to reach Amer- 
ican shores. 

But though the regiment contained representatives of all classes of 
society, the bulk of it was made up of the fine sturdy men which our 
Western prairies hold in reserve. They came almost altogether from 
the four territories still remaining within the boundaries of the United 
States. 

"They w^ere a splendid set of men, these Southwesterners," writes 
their commander wdth just pride; "tall and sinewy, with resolute, weather- 
beaten faces, and eyes that looked a man straight in the face without 
flinching. In all the w^orld there could be no better material for soldiers 
than that afforded by these grim hunters of the mountains, these wild 
rough riders of the plains." 

No small thing, perhaps, served to make the various men feel their 
brotherhood more than the Rough Riders' cry, combining war whoop, 
cattle call and college yell, which by some mysterious process of evolu- 
tion came into l>eing. When a thousand throats shouted it together no 
man could help feeling the pulse of the regiment beating in his brain. 
"Rough! tough! we're the stuff! 
We're the scrappers ; never get enough ! W-h-o-o-e-e !" 

Roosevelt opposed the name of "Rough Riders" at first. "The objec- 
tion to that term," he said once, with a twinkle in his eye, "is that peo- 
ple who read the newspapers may get the impression that the regiment 
is to be a hippodrome affair." No one had this idea long. After the 
first fight of the Rough Riders their colonel's prediction was verified. 

After four days on the cars the troops disembarked at Tampa in 
wdiat their colonel calls a perfect "welter of confusion." The railroad 
company landed them wdierever it could. No one was on hand to give 
them directions and no one to issue food for the first tw^enty-f<^ur hours. 
The commanders bought what they could for their men to eat and paid 
tor it out of their own pockets, but even then the soldiers were with(Out 
w^arm food or drink during all the first arduous stages of camp making. 




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Our Martyred President 353 

It is a trying task to bring order out of chaos when the fault is not 
one's own, and particularly exasperating when hunger adds more misery 
to the situation. But the Rough Riders were patient and forbearing. 
Then, as always, they set about the next duty without murmuring. 

Indeed, they would have been ashamed to do anything else, for their 
commander shared every hardship with them. Colonel Wood they loved 
and respected, though he left them so soon for the command of a brigade 
that he was not identified so closely with the life of the regiment as Theo- 
dore Roosevelt. He was their hero whom they would have followed over 
burning plowshares, if need was, as steadily as to the Cuban island. It is 
not often given to a man to have such worship and devotion as was 
accorded to Roosevelt by his Rough Riders. But this was his first re- 
ward for a long career of unswerving, unflinching honesty that proved 
his sterling worth. 

The Rough Riders were ready fur war and all that it meant. But the 
Government did not need them all. It was necessary to leave behind four 
trooi)s entire, and some men also from the troops that were taken. It 
was difficult to make the choice and the disappointment of those who 
could not go was so keen and bitter that officers and men wept like chil- 
dren TheV had given up so much for the war that they felt as if nothmg 
else could be worth while except active service. Yet the inconspicuous 
heroes who did their uninteresting camp duty at home whde then- com- 
rades were making history, surely deserve praise and commendation from 
their countrymen. For they, too, had the heart to do and the spirit to 

dare. i r i i • 

The Rou<^h Riders remained ten days in Tampa before embarking. 
When they were once safely aboard the transport ship Yucatan, there 
was little incident to vary the eight days' voyage to Daiquiri. The men 
became better acquainted in their amusements and m the exchange ot 
jokes. Nicknames were plentiful and as an indication of the intimacy 
of the men were vcrv interesting. 

" \ brave but fastidious member of a well-known Eastern club, says 
Roosevelt, "who was serving in the ranks, was christened Tough Ike ; 
and his bunker, the man who shared his shelter tent, who was a decideclly 
rough cow-puncher, gradually acquired the name of The Dude. Une 
unlucky and simple-minded cow-puncher who had never been east of the 
great plains in his life, unwarily boasted that he had an aunt in New York 
and ever afterward went by the name of 'Metropolitan Bill. A huge 
red-headed Irishman was named 'Sheeney Solomon.' A young Jew, who 
developed into one of the best fighters in ^the regiment, accepted, with 
entire equanimitv, the name of Torkchop.' " ^ 

Surprises were the order of the day In this regiment and it was not 



23 



L 



354 Life of William McKinley 

at all strange, for instance, that Captain "Buckey" O'Neil, "the iron- 
nerved, iron-willed fighter from Arizona, the sheriff whose name was a 
by-word of terror to every wrongdoer, white or red, the gambler who 
with unmoved face would stake and lose every dollar he had in the 
world," should have been overheard by his Colonel discussing Aryan 
root-words with Dr. Robb Church. The stories and tales that went 
round added miles of horizon to the imagination of those who listened, 
for, taken all together, the soldiers of the regiment had explored nearly 
every corner of the earth and had passed through the whole gamut of 
human experience. 

A.t the end of the voyage came the dramatic and dangerous perform- 
ance of landing at Daiquiri, where the Rough Riders, with the rest of the 
seven thousand men, were put ashore in small row boats. These had 
either to be run up through the surf and beached or landed at a pier, so 
high that the only w^ay of reaching it was by a mighty leap just as the 
boat rose on the topmost crest of a wave. Several boats filled with sup- 
plies and ammunition were swamped and only a few rifles could be re- 
covered by the men who dived after the missing cargoes. Two men 
also were drowned, but considering- the awkwardness and primitive 
method of landing, the wonder is not that there should have been any men 
at all drowned, but that there should have been as few. 

Roosevelt begged that his regiment might be one of the first to go to 
the front. His request was granted. Almost as soon as the Rough Rid- 
ers, therefore, were all on shore, the}^ beg^an to march forward with the 
rest of the advance column on the narrow trail, full of strength and 
courage. On Thursday, June 23, the day following the landing, the 
army advanced to Juragua. This place the enemy hastily evacuated. 
By night the two main divisions of the invaders, ad\'ancing by different 
roads, had met on the high ground surrounding the city of Santiago, 
within ten miles of the guns of Morro. 

The army even at this time had a foretaste of the real misery of the 
war — lack of shelter and food. The soldiers even then began to make 
jokes about the possibility of being killed by hunger before the enemy 
had a shot at them. For the food sent to them at that time was scanty 
and unsuitable, and during all the hardest part of the campaign the same 
deplorable state of affairs existed. 

In reference to this Roosevelt says in "The Rough Riders" : 

"Of course no one would have minded in the least such hardships as 
we endured had there been any need of enduring them ; but there was 
none. System and sufficiency of transportation were all that were 
needed." 

At daybreak on Friday the forward movement began again. The 



Our Martyred President 355 

heat was intense, the jungle ahnost impassable. The Rough Riders 
were weary from the journey and their forced march. But they beat 
their way untiringly through thick brush and treacherous swamps with 
the rest of the guarding column. The sound of trees falling gave 
warning that the enemy was ahead preparing defenses. Almost before 
they realized it the tiring began. Spanish sharpshooters concealed in 
the trees dropped accurate bullets among them. Volley after volley 
assailed them from the enemy screened behind the bushes. The smoke- 
less powder used gave no clew to their whereabouts. But the order for 
a general charge was given and with a cheer regulars and Rough Riders 
obeyed the order, firing where they could, as they plunged along over the 
uneven ground into the first engagement of the war, the battle of Las 
Guasimas. 

The Spaniards had made careful preparations. They had placed 
nearly fifteen hundred men in front of the advancing column and on its* 
sides. They had arranged an ambush and they held the ridges with rifle 
guns and machine guns. It was a warm reception, truly, for our soldiers. 
The Spanish fire was well placed and very heavy. The enemy held their 
ground obstinately. But it was impossible to hold out against Ameri- 
can pluck. In spite of every obstacle the invaders forced the pass and 
won the victory. 

When the figh.ting was over and the rush and hurry and the feverish 
intensity of battle had given place to temporary calm and quiet, the his- 
tory of the day was told again and again as each man had seen it for 
himself. It was a wonderful story, for every foot of ground over which 
the soldiers had advanced bore its record of brave and fearless deeds. 

"No man," writes Roosevelt, "was allowed to drop out to help the 
wounded. It was hard to leave them there in the jungle where they 
might not be found again until the vultures and the land crabs came, 
but war is a grim game and there was no choice. One of the men shot 
was Harry Heffner, of G Troop, who was mortally wounded through 
the hips. He fell without uttering a sound and two of his companions 
dragged him behind a tree. Here he propped himself up and asked to 
be given his canteen and his rifle, which I handed to him. _ He then 
again began shooting, and continued loading and firing until the Ime 
ntoved forward and we left him alone, dying, in the gloomy shade. 
When we found him again, after the fight, he was dead." 

The instances of bravery, devotion and self-sacrifice displayed by 
the Rough Riders on that day of conflict would fill a volume. On none 
of the glorious battle-fields where Americans have fought for their 
country, was the tvpical American bravery better displayed. 

In 'the field hospital lay a little group of twenty men, all badly 



356 Life of William McKinley 

wounded. The battle agony was in their faces, their ''red badge of 
courage" stained the Cuban soil, yet in their hearts there was no fear. 
Some one began to sing — 

"My country, 'tis of thee. 

Sweet land of liberty. 

Of thee we sing." 

Others joined in. The eyes of the men bore the glaze of approach- 
ing death, others sang jerkily and off key, and more than one quaver- 
ing voice 'was stopped by the finger of Death upon his lips. Yet the 
anthem was finished— sung for the first time by American soldiers, 
fighting for the first time on Cuban soil, under the flag they loved. 

Lieutenant Ord and his men had captured a rifle pit. A Spaniard, 
badly wounded, was still firing. One of Ortl's men took aim, but the 
lieutenant ordered him not to fire at a wounded man. He lowered his 
gun. The Spaniard took deliberate aim at Lieutenant Ord and blew 
his brains out. Ord's men at once killed the Spaniard, not with a bul- 
let, as a sc^ldier hopes to go, but with the butts of their rifles as such 
a man should be dispatched. 

Captain Capron, of the artillery, lifted the blanket which covered 
his dead boy's face. "Well done, my son," was all he said, but it was 
enough. For the boy had died fighting for his country, and there is 
no nobler death. 

LLamilton Fish, Jr., and Captain Capron fell at the very outset. The 
latter displayed the extreme of bravery, killing two Spaniards with a 
rifle after he was mortally wounded. Captain Capron was buried in 
Juragua on the hillside near the seashore. But all the other Rough 
Riders who fell in the battle of Las Guasimas lie together in one grave, 
at the top of the hill whicli they had died to win. 

"There could be no more honorable burial," writes Roosevelt in the 
story of the regiment, "than that of these men in a common grave — 
Indian and cowboy, miner, packer and college athlete — the man of 
unknown ancestry from the lonely Western plains, and the man who 
carried on his watch the crests of the Stuyvesants and Fishes, one in 
the way they had met death, just as during life they had been one in 
their daring and loyalty." 

No stained glass windows shed softened light upon the faces of 
those who lav on the hillside, no organ sounded the majestic chords 
of the funeral march, and no roses lay in their folded hands. It was 
grim and silent and pitiful. But the l)rief tropic dusk made their 
cathedral and the "taps" from the bugle was their last good night. 
Over their grave is an inscription — ^"to the memory of eight unknown 
soldiers." Unknown, perhaps, but not forgotten, for they are the eight 




PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 



Our Martyred President 357 

who received the haptism of fire for the flag, under its stars in a land 
they were trying to make free. 

Intense snlTering was endured by the wounded after the battle of 
Las Guasimas. lack of medicine and proper food adding to their misery 
and costing many lives that might well have been saved under better 
conditions. This was chargeable to lack of foresight and insufficient 
transportation, but the success of the battle may, in the hard economy 
of war, be taken as some sort of compensation for the extra loss of life. 

The morning following the battle of Las Guasimas Roosevelt went 
to Siboney to visit the wounded, and after looking about at the heroes 
he said with a ring of his voice that no one who heard him will ever 
forget : 

"Boys, if there is a man in the United States who wouldn't be 
proud to change places with you he is not worth his salt, and he is 
not a true American." 

The first four days after the battle were uneventful. There was 
very little food for the soldiers. Tents were an unknown luxury. 
Every tenth man had a blanket which he had captured from the Span- 
iards, but the other nine were without shelter or protection against 
the frequent rains. But neither regulars nor Rough Riders grumbled. 

About this time Colonel Wood was put in command of a brigade and 
Roosevelt was made colonel of his regiment. Close on his appoint- 
ment followed the thrilling battle of San Juan Hill, beginning the first 
day of July. 

During the first part of the action the Rough Riders were held in 
reserve for what seemed to them an interminable length of tmie. They 
fell, m.an after man, wounded or killed by Spanish bullets without a 
chance to return a shot. 

At last the order was given to support the regulars and to make 
an attack on San Juan Hill in force. Nothing could .have been more 
welcome to the men than the chance to hunt down the enemies who 
were dealing out death to them so imsparingly. 

Roosevelt was ahead, mounted on horseback. Lie wore on his som- 
brero a blue polka dot handkerchief, and as he rode it fluttered out 
straight behind him. His men scrambled along after him as best 
they could up the slippery hill that gave them no footing, a few in 
advance and the others creeping along behind. 

L^p they went and up through a perfect rain of deadly bullets. 

There w^as no glitter, no sound of trumpets, no detachment of men 
keeping step to the music of a band. But all along the straggling 
rows men dropped and lay where they fell or struggled toward shelter- 
ing buslies, while their comrades pushed on to take their places. 



358 Life of William McKinley 

The line of soldiers rose higher and higher. The half-way point 
was reached. The lire of the Spaniards was redoubled ; their bullets 
hissed like a thousand serpents. 

Then for one moment the enemy appeared, black and forbidding, 
between our soldiers and the sky. They fired one volley and fled, as 
the men of the Tenth and the Rough Riders reached the blockhouse 
together. 

San Juan Hill was ours. 

The loss of life was great, not only during the battle, but while the 
men were waiting the command to move. Amid all the carnage Roose- 
velt seemed to bear a charmed life. Mounted on horseback, as he was, 
he made a conspicuous target at which many a Spaniard aimed. No 
one who saw him start up San Juan Hill on a gallop ever expected to 
see him alive again. But not a bullet touched him. He reached the 
blockhouse on the top of the hill, with four troopers, before all the 
Spaniards had abandoned it and killed one of them who was still 
firing, with his own revolver. He had a narrow escape, too, while 
standing with a group of officers near the top of the ridge in advance 
of his command. Two shells in swift succession screeched over their 
heads from the direction of Santiago; one killed a Cuban, and the 
other burst a short distance from the colonel. A fragment of it struck 
Roosevelt on the first knuckle of the left hand, causing the blood to 
flow freely. He walked over to some of his men and held out his hand, 
remarking with a smile : 

"Well, boys, I got it, too, but the Spaniards will have to beat that." 

During the three days' battle of San Juan the men had a good demon- 
stration of the hardships of war. They fought all day and dug in the 
trenches most of the night. They had almost nothing to eat, but no 
one shirked. They were drenched to the skin by tropical rains and 
then chilled through and through by the night air. 

"To wake men up at 5 a. m.," says their commander, "who have 
had nothing to ' eat, nothing to cover them — wake them up suddenly 
and have them all run the right way; that is the test. Such men are 
a good lot. There wasn't a man \\ho went to the rear." 

This is Colonel Roosevelt's side of the story, but his men had an- 
other to tell. They had lain for forty-eight hours in the muddy ditches 
and it seemed as if their endurance was at an end. Thev were worn 
out, hungry and discouraged. Suddenly, early in the morning the 
Spaniards appeared at the top of the hill. The men in the trenches 
stirred restlessly. They felt as if they wanted to turn anywhere away 
from those whizzing balls. Just at that moment they saw Colonel 
Roosevelt with his blue handkerchief flapping about his neck, walking 



Our Martyred President 359 

as calmly along the top of the intrenchment as if he had been taking 
a stroll at Oyster Bay. 

The rain of Mauser bullets dropping about him gave hmi no con- 
cern whatever. The men cheered huii and called him to come down. 
In the face of such coolness and bravery all their uneasiness vanished 
in a moment. They were again courageous soldiers, ready to fight till 
every Spaniard had fallen or fled. 

On the seventeenth of July Santiago surrendered. But it was at 
a heavy cost to our army. The climate and the lack of suitable food 
were as fatal as the enemy's bullets and the army was a mere skele- 
ton of itself. A few sporadic cases of yellow fever appeared. But 
the disease did not spread. Malarial fever was the great foe, and 
nearly every soldier had at least a touch of it. Man after man was 
dyino- of disease and lack of nourishment. Not ten per cent of the 
arm>^ was fit for active service. The four immune regiments ordered 
there were sufficient to garrison the town. There was absolutely noth- 
ing for the soldiers to do. But still the authorities at Washmgton did 
not give the order to return. 

\t last after Colonel Roosevelt had taken the mitiative, all the 
American general officers united in a "round robin" to General Shaf- 
ter setting forth the true state of affairs. 

"This army must be moved at once or perish," they wrote. 'As 
the army can r)e safelv moved now, the persons responsible for prevent- 
ing such a move wilf be responsible for the unnecessary loss of many 

thousand lives." 

A.S a result of this protest the officials at Washmgton finally woke 
t.^ the fact that the armv must be ordered home or there would be 
nothing left to order. \Vhen the command reached Cuba the men 
could scarcelv contain themselves for joy. Colonel Roosevelt marched 
to the ship at the head of his regiment. There were many gaps in it 
which could never be filled, and many soldier graves on the island to 
tell the sad story of the war. But there were many heroes, too, re- 
served for a kinder fate, and many who received their promotion and 
marched home again to the reward of their bravery. 

■\fter a prosperous voyage the Rough Riders landed at Long Island 
and were soon mustered out of service to return to the paths of peace 
But the gallant colonel who had so nobly done his duty, courted no rest 
-his impetuous nature, ever looking for active service, requires action. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Theodore Roosevelt. 
Governor, Vice President — Anecdotes and Incidents. 

The campaign for the control of New York State in the approaching 
election of a governor had already begun when the Rough Riders re- 
turned from Cuba. Colonel Roosevelt's name had often been mentioned 
for the Republican nomination, and the popular enthusiasm for this se- 
lection was supported by the leaders of the party in the State. Governor 
Frank S. Black had been elected by an enormous phn-ahty two years 
previous, and according to all traditions should have been renominated. 
He was set aside, however, for the new hero, and the convention at Sara- 
toga nominated Colonel Roosevelt with a hurrah. The friends of Gov- 
ernor Black had fought bitterly so k)ng as there seemed a chance of suc- 
cess, and they started the rumor that Colonel Roosevelt was ineligible for 
the nomination, as he had rehnquislied his residence in New York when 
he went to Washington to enter the Navy Department. 

The actual campaign was a most picturesque one. B. B. Odell, chair- 
man of the state committee and now governor of New York, was op- 
])osed to Colonel Roosevelt stumping the state in his own behalf, but it 
soon became apparent that general apathy existed, and consent was re- 
kictantly given to tlie candidate to do so. There followed a series of 
speeches that woke up the ^"oters. 

Colonel Roosevelt, by nature forceful, direct, and theatrical in his 
manner and method, went back and forward, up and down. New York, 
accompanied by a few of his Rough Riders in their uniforms. These cow- 
boys made speeches, telling, usually, how much they thought of their 
colonel, and the tour met with success. Colonel Roosevelt was electe*! 
governor over Augustus Van Wyck, the Democratic candidate, by a 
plurality of about 17,000 votes. 

In his conduct of the governorship Colonel Roosevelt was often at 
odds with Senator Piatt and the leaders of the party in the state, but no 
breach occurred between them. The governor nominated men of his 
own selecti<^n for the department of juiblic works — which had been the 
source of great scandal — and for adjutant general and surrogate of 
New York County. These men were selected for their special fitness to 
correct the evils in the office to which they were appointed, and were given 

S60 



Our Martyred President 361 

the places against the claims of the party leaders' choice for the same 
positions. Efforts to secure the passage of a bill to improve the civil 
service in the state and to change the police system in New York Citv 
were fathered by Governor Roosevelt and pushed by Senator Piatt, but 
failed of passage through dereliction of Republican Senators. 

After a year of remarkable success in governing the State of New 
York Colonel Roosevelt went to Las Vegas, New Mexico, to attend the 
first reunion of his regiment. 

The opening day was given over to the joy of reunion, to elaborate 
receptions and hrew^orks. The second was the anniversary of the battle 
of Las Guasimas and a service w^as held in memory of the dead. It was 
very impressive. 

New Mexico has never seen a greater day than the one on which cow- 
boys, in every kind of garb, guardsmen of the New Mexico National 
Guard, Rough Riders, Indians, Mexican women and children from the 
adobes, and ranchmen in their picturesque attire welcomed the men they 
"loved next to idolatry." 

Parson Uzzell preached a strong and characteristic sermon, closing it 
with a recitation of Kipling's Recessional. 

In the afternoon all the interest centered about the presentation of 
a medal to Colonel Roosevelt and a sword to the gallant Major Brodie, 
given by the Rough Riders and the citizens of New Mexico. 

Hon. Frank Springer presented the medal to the /colonel and made 
a ringing speech which caused every Rough Rider to thrill and tingle 
with pride in his birthright as an American citizen. 

A few hours afterward the regiment dispersed for the second time. 
But its soldiers carried to the four corners of the country the inspira- 
tion of that meeting. However far they may be separated in place and 
thought, the name of Roosevelt will bridge the distance, and the words 
of Kipling's mighty war song will be to them as a password into that 
strange and wonderful experience of war and battle which they shared 



together. 



ROOSEVELT AS VICE PRESIDENT. 



Theodore Roosevelt, as governor of New York, continued to keep 
in the public eye, as he had always done in every other position he had 
held from the day of his election to the legislature of his native state. 
In the spring of 1900, on the approach of the Republican national con- 
vention, his name was the most often spoken of in connection with the 
second place on the national ticket. The convention met June 19 in 
Philadel])hia, and it w^as made known that Cornelius N. Bliss of New 
York, who had been a member of the cabinet of President ]\IcKinley. 



362 Life of William McKinley^ 

was the choice of Chairman Hanna and the members of the Republican 
national committee. The renomination of President McKinley for his 
high otiice was admittedly a foregone conchision. 

Ahnost all the men who have stepped from the vice-presidency into 
the higher office to fill out terms for which other men were selected 
have taken up the administration under a handicap. They received 
the nomination for the lesser place with a distinct impression on the 
part of the public that they were not, and never would be, of heavy 
enough caliber for the presidency. Honorable and a1jle gentlemen as 
some of them proved to be, they could not have the full confidence of 
the public nor could they regard themselves as other than stopgaps used 
by bitter necessity to fill the presidential succession. It has been the 
practice in nominating conventions — a practice which from now on 
should be abandoned absolutely — to select the man for second place on 
considerations of party expediency, geographical location or the desira- 
bility of appeasing some of the dissatisfied ones in the party ranks, but 
with little regard for personal fitness. 

Mr. Roosevelt began his administration with none of these embar- 
rassments. Previous to the Philadelphia convention he was regarded 
as belonging to the available "presidential timber," and his nomina- 
tion for the presidency in 1904 was seen to be most probable in any 
event. Ahnost immediately after the death of President McKinley he 
announced his determination to continue the policy of his illustrious 
predecessor and invited the jMcKinley cabinet to retain their portfolios. 
This produced a splendid effect upon the country at large. Few Presi- 
dents have ever entered upon the discharge of their high duties under 
more promising auspices than did Theodore Roosevelt, who took the 
oath of office at Buffalo, where the cal^inet was assembled, on September 
14, 1901. 

Roosevelt's marriage and children. 

In 1 88 1 Mr. Roosevelt and Miss Alice Lee of Boston married. Two 
years later he lost his wife and his mother. In 1886 Mr. Roosevelt 
married a second time. Miss Editli Kermit Carow becoming his wife. 
The domestic life of Mr. Roosevelt is ideal. Whether ensconced in 
winter quarters at New York or Washington, or at the famous summer 
home at Oyster Bav, on Long Island, the indulgent father is always 
ready to romp with his children, and he enters into the sport with as 
much zest as the youngest of the six. In many ways the children reflect 
the paternal characteristics. Alice, who is seventeen years old, is Mr. 
Roosevelt's daughter liy his first marriage. She is tall, dark and seri- 
ous-looking, and rides her father's military charger fearlessly and grace- 
fully. 



Our Martyred President 363 

The next is Theodore, jr., or "young Teddy," the idol of his father's 
heart, and a genuine "chip of the old block" in the estimation of those 
who know him. Young Teddy owns a shotgun and hopes some day 
to kill more and bigger game than his father ever slew. He also rides 
a pony of his own. He is fourteen years old. The other children are : 
Kermit, aged twelve; Ethel, aged ten; Archibald, aged seven, and 
Quentin, aged four. 

These children were all born in New York. There is a significance 
about their given names, which were not chosen for them at a venture 
or culled out of the pages of popular novels. Theodore explains itself 
— the third Roosevelt of that name in direct succession, beginning with 
Theodore, the merchant and importer of glassware, father of the new- 
President. Kermit one might suppose to be some ancient Dutch name, 
taken from the remote history of the Roosevelts ; remote its origin may 
be, Ijut it is Manx, not Dutch-Celtic, not Teutonic — commemorating its 
bearer's descent from an ancestor in that quaint isle, and starting him 
in life with one presumably unique possession. 

Of the rest, Archibald's first and second names both connect him 
with the Scottish ancestry, the Bulloch family, which settled in tlie 
Southern States and is still as well known in Dixie as it was in the 
days of the confederacy, when one of its members fired the last gun 
on board Semmes' Alabama. The fiery Huguenot strain is duly hon- 
ored in the baby, Quentin. Kermit received his name from the moth- 
er's side of the house, Mrs. Roosevelt having, been born Edith Kermit 
Carow. Alice was named for her mother, the President's first wife, 
and Ethel for a relative. 

ROOSEVELT AS AUTHOR. 

Mr. Roosevelt has been a great student and quite a voluminous 
writer. The Saturday Review of the Ne<v York Times gives an able 
estimate of his writings, as follows : 

He has published a half dozen serious works in history and in 
biography, three original works on hunting and ranch life, and a con- 
siderable number of essays, some of them of an extremely careful and 
])ermanently valuable character. Had he done nothing but write his 
fascinating hunting books — and lived through the experiences they relate 
in so simple and winning style — he would probably be more widely 
known in other lands than any other American save one or two. Had 
he not ol)scured his reputation as a historian by his industry in making 
history he would have a distinct place in the circle of American writers 
in that field. It remains true, however, that if his life had been less 
full and active, his literary Avork would in all probability have had 
less value, and the value would have been less peculiar. 



364 Life of William McKinley 

Tlie little volume of essaj^s he published in 1897, immediately after 
his retirement from the Pohce Board of New York, has most of the traits 
of his entire literary product. They range in date over a dozen years. 
Four of them are in effect autobiographic, discussing the legislature of 
New York, the police of New York, civil service reform and machine pol- 
itics in New York. These are models in tlieir kind, and their kind is an 
extremely difhcuU and risky one. They are direct in narrative, clear and 
succinct in description, weU weighed and convincing in their judgments, 
moderate in temper and simply indispensable to the reader who wishes to 
study the subjects with which they deal. They reveal directly, as the 
histories and biographies reveal indirectly, the mind and character of the 
writer. They are almost entirely free from the extreme criticism and 
sweeping theorizing which for this hater of mere critics and theorists 
seem to have a fascination that he can resist only when his mind is en- 
gaged on facts with which he himself has dealt. Of his defects and 
temptations there are also examples in the essays, especially in those that 
suggest lay sermons, in which the preaching is strikingly inferior to the 
author's j^ractice. 

If Mr. Roosevelt's vigorous personality constitutes a limitation on 
the scope and excellence of his literary work, it also gives to the best of 
it both charm and \'alue. If that part of the work in which the person- 
ality is not enlisted does not compel attention, the rest demands and re- 
pays study. The ideals of the writer and of the citizen are the same, 
and they are high. No one who has fairly made himself familiar with 
both can deny that. From the point of view of the critic it is extremely 
interesting to note that when the best qualities of the man are most com- 
pletely called into play the best work of the writer is done. 

It may be said of Mr. Roosevelt's v/riting that it is at its best when it 
approaches most nearly to action, and this, we are confident, would be the 
judgment which he would be most content to deserve.- His hunting 
books are a striking instance of this quality. They are models of straight- 
forward and convincing narrative and description. The personal ele- 
ment is, of course, prevalent in them, but it is not at all obtrusive or out 
of perspective. There is no assumption of modesty in them, no affecta- 
tion of indifference to the writer's own share in the experiences and ob- 
servations recorded. He is quite frankly and inevitably a chief actor in 
the tale, but not at all the hero. He takes his part with zest, and his 
personality lends a natural and constant charm to every adventure. But 
he is intensely interested in the game he pursues, in the country he hunts 
over, in his companions, in everything that presents itself to the eager 
and vigorous mind, to his keen and alert vision. The present writer 
speaks only as a general reader, quite uninitiated in the mysteries of the 




MRS. ROOSEVELT 



Our Martyred President 365 

hunter's craft, and without that reverence for them which devotees de- 
mand, but as a general reader he finds Mr. Roosevelt's hunting books 
the most engaging and satisfactory of their sort. 

In his histories and biographies, Roosevelt the writer is most suc- 
cessful when Roosevelt the man is most completely enlisted, and when his 
subject is of the sort to which his multiform activities have been most 
closely related. They are best, certainly they are the most interesting, 
where they are the unconscious representation of the author's mind and 
character. He misses, for instance, some of the most significant phases 
of the curious and original nature of Gouverneur Morris, one of the 
strongest, most penetrating and most strangely limited minds in our early 
or later history, but he grasps firmly and renders clearly the working of 
the essential forces that went to the "Winning of the West." These he 
feels ; he has been in active alliance and, co-operation with them, and has 
had to wrestle with them. 

ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS RELATING TO ROOSEVELT. 

Anecdotes in which President Roosevelt figures as the star are almost 
as numerous as those told of Lincoln. Possessing a striking personality, 
and having a habit of doing and saying things out of the ordinary, his 
words and deeds are always interesting. The range of stories is wide 
and varied, as might naturally be expected of a man who has been a 
cowboy, a traveler, a writer, a reformer, a soldier and a statesman. It 
has been said of him that no American living to-day is so versatile ; that 
there is no calling that he could not fill, and with credit. Be that as it 
may, he has certainly played a long list of roles, and in each he has been 
a conspicuous success. And he is still a young man. His complete biog- 
raphv, when written, will be quite as entertaining reading as that of any 
of our popular heroes who are dead. 

IN THE PULPIT. 

The new President has appeared on the political stump times without 
number, but only once, so far as recorded, has he appeared in the pulpit. 
This was in Chicago recently. Mr. Roosevelt is a personal friend of 
the Rev. Mr. Moerdyke of the Trinity Reformed Church, 440 South 
Marshfield avenue. 

"Come and preach to us some Sunday," wrote the preacher several 
months ago to Mr. Roosevelt. "I will fill your pulpit the next time I 
am in Chicago," was the reply. He arrived in Chicago on Saturday, and 
the next day. accompanied by Col. J. H. Strong, he drove to Trinity to 
keep his promise. The Rev. Mr. Moerdyke was in the act of announcing 
a hymn, when the then vice-president and Colonel Strong entered the 



366 Life of William McKinley 

chnrch. They took front seats. The reading of the hymn was postponed, 
and the preacher stepped down from the pulpit to greet his guests. A 
minute later the minister returned to the pulpit and announced that his 
regular sermon on "Christian Statesmen" would be postponed, and that 
Vice President Roosevelt would preach. 'There is one thing I admire 
about Colonel Roosevelt more than all others," he continued ; "he is a man 
of his word." The vice president did not preach doctrine, but he did de- 
liver a lay sermon on "Be Ye Doers of the Word, Not Hearers Only," 
that was listened to with the closest attention. The afternoon of the same 
day he addressed the Gideons at the First Methodist Church, and was 
elected an honorary member of the association. 

IDEAS OF HONESTY. 

Mr. Roosevelt's ideas of honesty are well illustrated in the following 
story : It was during the time he conducted a cattle ranch in Wyoming\ 
Riding about his ranch one day he noticed a maverick from a neighbor's 
ranch. A maverick is a beast which has not been branded. One of his 
cowboys began to tumble the maverick over, preparatory to branding it, 
when the following colloquy occurred : 

Roosevelt — "What are you doing?" 

Rustler — "Oh, I am just rustlinp;." 

Roosevelt — "Are you going to put my brand on that maverick^" 

Rustler— "Yes." 

Roosevelt— "You go up to the ranch house and get your time to- 
night. I don't want to have anything to do with you. If you will steal 
for me you will steal from me." 

AS POLICE COAIMISSIONER. 

When police commissioner his methods were too rigorous to suit the 
policemen. He enlisted a regiment of enemies and his life was threat- 
ened. The sensational newspapers attacked him with bitter malice, a 
part even of his own board was against him, but he never wavered. He 
did his duty as he saw it, and refused to be influenced by any ulterior 
considerations. When the leading papers and influential citizens entered 
then- protests, the characteristic Roosevelt answer came : "I am placed 
here to enforce the law as I find it. I shall enforce it. If you don't like 
it, repeal it." 

THOUGHTS AS A BOY. 

Julian Ralph once asked Mv. Roosevelt: "What did you expect to be 
or dream of being when you ^^■ere a boy ?" 

"I do not recollect that I dreamed at all or planned at all," he 



Our Martyred President 367 

answered. "I simply obeyed the injunction, 'Whatsoever thy hand 
findeth to do, do that with ah thy might,' so I took up what came along 
as it came. Since then I have gone on Lincoln's motto: 'Do the best; 
if not, then the best possible.' " 

QUALITIES OF ROUGH RIDERS. 

When Colonel Roosevelt set out to raise a regiment of rough riders 
he decided that he would make sure that every man enlisted possessed 
not only nerve, but staying qualities as well. His experience with one 
young westerner is a type of several. The young man was strong and 
liusky ent)ugh, jjut there was a look in his face that the colonel took to 
Ije one lacking a continuity of purpose. He told the would-be recruit that 
the ranks were practically full and that he could not enlist him. The 
next day the young man returned to repeat his request to be enlisted. 
Again he was turned down. This proceeding was repeated for a week, 
the western youth never missing a day at the recruiting headquarters. 
The pertinacity of the boy finally interested the colonel. 

"Wdiat did you say your name was?" asked Roosevelt on the eighth 
visit. 

"Henry Johnson." 

"Where do you come from?" 

"Iowa." 

"You want to enlist as a rough rider?" 

"I do." 

"How did you get here?" 

"I walked son"ie of the distance, stole rides part of the way, and paid 
my fare as far as possible." 

"Can you ride a horse?" 

"Yes." 

"And shoot?" 

"Yes." 

"Well, you are the kind of man we are looking for. I did not like 
your appearance at first, but any man who will show as much zeal trying 
to get into the army deserves to be enlisted." 

TRUE AMERICANISM. 

Mr. Roosevelt was once asked for an opinion on what he termed true 
Americanism. The reply, which he. incorporated in one of his books, iS 
as follows : 

"I have no wish to excuse or hide our faults, for I hold that he is 
often the best American who strives hardest to correct American short- 
comings. Nevertheless, I am just as little disposed to give way to undue 



368 Life of William McKinlcy 

pessimism as to undue and arrogant optimism. In speaking to my own 
countrymen, there is one point upon which I wish to lay special stress ; 
that is the necessity for a feehng of broad, radical, intense Americanism 
if good work is to be done in any direction. Above all, the one essential 
for success in every political movement which is to do lasting good is 
that our citizens should act as Americans; not as Americans with a 
prefix and qualification — not as Irish- Americans, German- Americans, 
native Ame'-icans — but as Americans pure and simple." 

ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN. 

A young man himself, President Roosevelt takes a keen interest in 
other young men, and is always ready with words of advice or encour- 
agement. This is what he once wrote to a New Yorker : 

"First and foremost, be American, heart and soul, and go in with 
any person, heedless of anytliing l)ut that person's qualifications. For 
myself, I'd as quickly work l)eside Pat Dugan as with the last descendant 
of a patroon ; it literally makes no difference to me so long as the work is 
good and the man is in earnest. One other thing I'd like to teach the 
young man of wealth : That he who has not got wealth owes his first 
duty to his family, but he who has means owes his first duty to his state. 
It is ignoble to try to heap money on money. I would preach the doctrine 
of work to all, and to the men of wealth the doctrine of unremunerative 
work." 

LOVE OF ATHLETIC SPORTS. 

Mr. Roosevelt as a boy was quite frail and puny. He was well along 
in his teens before his family ceased to worry about him. Once ni 
college, however, he took to athletic sports as closel}' as he did to his 
books, and was soon a strong, healthy young man. His ranch life, after 
leaving college, still further developed him until he became as rugged 
and enduring as a man born and raised on the plains. Mr. Roosevelt 
was specially fond of boxing during his college days — the same as his 
boys are now — and has always kept in practice. During his term as 
governor he also took instructions in wrestling. William Carlin, one 
of the best-known athletes in New York and at one time a famous oars- 
man, was his teacher. 

"He is a doughty little man," said Mr. Carlin one day after an hour 
in the gymnasium with the governor, "and can give any man plenty of 
exercise. The governor likes the catch-as-catch-can game, and is as 
quick as a flash in getting his holds, but he still clings to the favorite 
western style of wrestling — cross buttocks — and it is a hold that he uses 
most dexterously," 




PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S CHILDREN 
Ethel Theodore Alice Quentin Kermic Archibald 



Our Martyred President 3^9 



CORDIAL AND APPROACHABLE, 



President Roosevelt is not only an approachable man, but he displays 
a cordiality toward people he meets that makes a lasting impression. 
When one is introduced to Mr. Roosevelt he cannot help feehng that he 
is an object of no little interest to him. The new acquaintance goes away 
feeling that the greeting was not one of mere formality. If he has had 
a story to tell the vice president he knows that it has been heard and 
absorbed. A new page at the state capitol took his first note to Roosevelt 
when governor with fear and trembling. Thoughts of the greatness of 
the man he was to see overwhelmed him. When he reappeared from the 
governor's office after delivering the note he was all smiles, and to 
another page he remarked enthusiastically : "Say, ain't Teddy a peach?" 
This is not a familiarity. That same boy would run seven miles for Mr. 
Roosevelt, and be willing to punch the boy who said anything disre- 
spectful. He entered the governor's presence expecting to be overawed, 
he came out with the impression that he had known him for a long time 
and was glad of it. 



INTEREST IN ANIMALS. 



Mr. Roosevelt's interest in animals is almost as great as in man. He 
was walking from the capitol at Albany one day, accompanied by a 
friend, when he noticed two sturdy but tired horses striving to haul a 
heavy 'load up the ice-covered street. One slipped. Immediately Mr. 
Roosevelt stopped, and, with an absorbed expression on his face that 
he shows when deeply interested, watched the horse regain his feet. 
The horses stumbled again on the ice. "Stop a moment," Roosevelt 
said to the driver. "Drive sideways." The driver did not recognize 
the governor. He was about to say something unpleasant, when the 
governor caught his eye. Then the man zigzagged his horses up the 
iiill past the ice with never a word. The grim look on Roosevelt's face 
disappeared just as quickly as it came, and the next minute he had tipped 
his hat to a Httle child who saluted in true military fashion. 



TENACITY. 



Roosevelt is by nature a fighter. He has all the stubborn tenacity 
that was inherited with his Dutch blood, coupled with almost a Celtic 
willingness to combat any one or anything, anyhow or anywhere he 
deems proper and necessary. When he fought against two parties to 
push through the bills giving Comptroller Coler the right to pass upon 
prices paid bv departments for goods purchased and supervision m the 
confession of judgments, the leaders of his party came to him and said : 

"Governor, you are building up a powerful rival to you for next fall. 



Z7<^ Life of William McKinley 

"Maybe so," he replied, "but he is right, and lie's going to have those " 
bills if I can get them through for him." And he got them through. 

Again, two of his best friends in the legislature. Speaker Nixon and 
Leader Allds, came to him and begged him not to force through the 
canal bill. 

"It is suicide to do it," they pleaded, "for it will lose votes for you ' 
among the farmers and in the districts that elected yuu. It is ungrate- 
ful and extremely bad politics." 

Roosevelt appreciated their argument and did not say they were 
wrong in presenting it. He simply shook his head and said: "You 
are right, but this is a case where the few must give way for the benefit 
of the many. I realize that it seems unjust to the farmers to be taxed 
for im]Drovements that will bring produce from the West to compete 
with them, but the whole state must be considered, and this is in line 
with commercial progress. It must go through." And it went through. 

While Roosevelt admires independence, he believes in organization, 
because he has the instincts of a soldier. But he is not a martinet, and' 
has no faith in men who have not minds of their own. It was to Assem- 
blymen Price and Morgan, of Brooklyn, two young legislators to whom 
he took a great fancy, that he said at the beginning of a session of the 
New York legislature: "If you choose to be cattle I must consult your 
driver. Be men and I want your advice." 

He enjoyed his term as governor, among other reasons because it 
gave him so many hard fights. Just after his term had expired with 
a chuckle that is as essentially a part of his make-up as his mysterious 
and famous smile, he said to a group of friends: "I've enjoved bein- 
governor. Indeed, I believe I've had a run for mv money. I've had a 
hot time, and I liked it." 

Fighter though he is, Roosevelt does not fight unfairlv. There lla^•e 
been governors who have forced votes in the legislature by threats to 
hold up the bills of recalcitrant senators or assemblymen. There were 
those^even among the recognized reform element who argued that this 
was fair m war, and almost begged him to drive some of the senators 
mto line on the Insurance Commissioner Payne matter. But he stead- 
fast y i-efused q hese bills belong to their constituents and to the 
pnbhc, he said, and I have no right to delay, much less to defeat them 
As I cannot do this it is unfair to threaten them. I must win on the 
merits of the case itself or not at all. But I will win." Subsequently 
he had occasion to call sternly to account an over-zealous employe of the \ 
state who tried to help in just that way. ' 

AN EXCITING OCCASION. 

One of the most exciting of President Roosevelt's many experiences 
n^ the AVest was at Victor, Cob, a year ago during the presidendal car^^ 



Our Martyred President 371 

paign. Roosevelt was making a trip through the West, and stopped at 
\'ictor to make a speech. As he was walking from his train to the 
meeting hall an attempt was made by a band of toughs to strike him 
down. One man hit him on the breast with a piece of scantling six 
feet long, from which an insulting democratic banner had been torn. 
Another rough aimed a blow at the colonel's head, and was ridden down 
by a miner named Holley. When the fighting was all over Roosevelt 
exclaimed enthusiastically: "This is bully; this is magnificent. Why, 
it's the best time I've had since I started. I wouldn't have missed it for 
anything." 

A THRILLING LION HUNT. 

One of Roosevelt's most thrilling lion hunts took place while he was 
stopping at the Keystone ranch in Colorado last April. Roosevelt and 
his guide held at bay a large lion in a crevice on the precipitous side of 
a rock ledge which extends from the point of the crevice sheer down sixty 
feet. Roosevelt shot at the lion, but it was dusk, and the beast disap- 
peared under the rim of a perpendicular wall of rocks. A large rock 
stood loosely on the rim of the ledge, and the men saw that if it were 
possible to hang head first over this rock he would see the lion and might 
be able to shoot at it. 

"The question," said the guide afterwards, "which confronted us 
was. How is it to be done? Finally, Colonel Roosevelt stood still a 
minute, looked at me intently, and said : "Gofi, we must have that lion 
if he is there. I'll tell you what I'll do. I will take my gun and crawl 
over that rock ; you hold me by the feet and allow me to slide down far 
enough to see him. If I can see him I will get him.' This plan was car- 
ried out, and he killed the lion hanging head downward while I held him 
by his feet." 

CIVIL SERVICE. 

President Roosevelt was succeeded on the civil-service commission 
by John B. Harlow, of St. Louis. Mr. Harlow has in his offtce many 
mementoes of Mr. Roosevelt's regime, one of the most interesting of 
which is a defense of the civil-service examinations by Roosevelt, given 
before one of the state committees. 

Roosevelt was answering the assertion that the examinations were 
not fair tests of a man's knowledge and intellectual attainments. To the 
committee he said, with the directness and force which gave him much 
of his fame, that the examinations did indicate the fund of information 
possessed by applicants and he immediately cited examples of the answers 
made to the question, "Who was Lincoln ?" in an examination conducted 
shortly befcre the time of the senate committee's investigation. In the 
answers it appears that Lincohi was a revolutionary general; he was 



372 Life of William McKinley 

assassinated by Thomas Jefferson and was the assassin of Aaron Burr ; he 
commanded a regiment in the French and Indian wars, and was an arc- 
tic explorer in a period immediately after the Civil War. The defense 
of the examinations by Roosevelt is full of such specific examples, 
showing- that he had an intimate acquaintance with the results of the 
work in his office. 

It was Roosevelt who first introduced the form of examinations now 
so generally used by the commission to discover the peculiar fitness or 
unfitness of applicants for special lines of work to which they are to be 
assigned. It came about in a series of examinations in which Texas and 
the Southwest were interested. It was proposed to place the mounted 
inspectors of the government along the Rio Grande, in Texas, under 
the civil-service rules. These inspectors are men of rare courage and 
must necessarily be skilled in handling cattle, familiar with the different 
kinds of cattle brands, and excellent horsemen. They have to deal vv'ith 
the cattle rustlers on the Mexican border. When Roosevelt saw the 
questions which had been prepared for these men, bearing on history, 
rhetoric and mathematics, he declared the proposed examinations would 
be farcical, and, calling to his aid his own familiarity with the cattle 
country and the plains, he drew up a set of questions for the inspectors. 
The only intellectual test was that which was made by requiring a man 
to answer the questions in his own words and handwriting. The ques- 
tions were something of a shv^ck to those who had been conducting the 
examinations in accordance with the old methods. One of the questions 
the men had to answer was this : 

"State the experience, if any, you have had as a marksman with a 
rifle or a pistol ; whether or not you have practiced shooting at a target 
with either weapon, or at game or other moving objects; and also 
whether you have practiced shooting on horseback. State the make of 
the rifle and revolver you ordinarily use." 

Another of the questions read this way : 

"State fully what experience you have had in horsemanship; whether 
or not you can ride unbroken horses; if not, whether you would be able, 
unassisted, to rope, bridle, saddle, mount and ride an ordinary cow pony 
after it had been turned loose for six months ; also whether you can ride 
an ordinary cow pony on the round-up, both in circle riding and in 
cutting-out work around the herd." 

Another question which Mr. Roosevelt framed was as to technical 
knowledge of the different brands of cattle in the cattle country, and it 
would be unintelligible to any but a cattle man or Roosevelt. When he 
submitted the question to his colleagues he declared that, to be a success- 
ful government inspector and shoot lawless Mexicans and prevent the 



Our Martyred President 373 

"rnnning" of cattle over the border, it was not necessary for a man to 
discuss nebular hypotheses nor to have an intimate knowledge of the 
name and number of inhabitants of the capital of Zahzibar, In all siur 
cerity, he told his colleagues that he would like to make another require- 
ment, and that was that each applicant be made to appear before those 
in charge of the examinations and lasso, throw and tie a steer in twenty 
minutes, but as he himself did not have time to preside at such feature 
of the examination he had left that out. That was the beginning of 
the practical methods of examinations by the civil-service commission, 
which have been followed up by Mr. Harlow and his colleagues on 
the commission until the scholastic element in the examinations has dis- 
appeared almost entirely, and they are now designed solely to establish 
the practical fitness that applicants have for the lines of work to which 
they are to be assigned. 

FRIENDLINESS. 

As Colonel Roosevelt was walking up Delaware avenue in Buffalo 
one day last week he passed an ancient negro raking leaves out of the 
grass between the sidewalk and the curb. The negro took off his hat and 
bowed low. 

"Please, sir, ]\Ir. Roosevelt," he said, "I'd like to shake hands with 
you, sir." 

As he grasped the vice president's outstretched hand he added : 

"Look out they don't get you, Mr. Vice-President." 

"Thank you," said Colonel Roosevelt, and started on. 

Two men in overalls had stopped to watch his meeting with the 
negro, and as he turned to go on they stepped up to him, too, with their 
hands stretched out. 

The colonel shook hands with them both and thanked them for their 
greetings. 

"Ain't you afraid when a fellow comes up to you in the street like 
this?" asked one of them. 

"Not a bit of it. sir," replied Colonel Roosevelt, with all bis usual 
energv of utterance, "and I hope the time will never come when an offi- 
cer of this government will be afraid to meet his fellow citizens in the 
street. The men of this country, all the people, are the guardians of the 
men they have elected to public office. If anything, the lives of the 
officers of the government are safer now than before that thing was 
done at the exposition the other day. Tell me," he asked, with a smile 
which showed his confidence that he would get a negative answer, "did 
it ever occur to either of you that violence would do any of our people 
any good?" 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Theodore Roosevelt. Addresses, and Tributes to His 

Character. 

SPEECH BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT BEFORE THE HAM- 
ILTON CLUB, CHICAGO, APRIL ii, 1899. 

FAMOUS LEADER OF THE "rOUGH RIDERS" ADDRESSES THE ASSEMBLAGE 

ON "the strenuous life." 

Governor Roosevelt was tlie central figure and chief speaker of the 
banquet. His address on "The Strenuous Life," to deliver which he 
came here from Albany, is printed in full as follows : 

"In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the 
State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who pre- 
eminently and distinctly embody all that is most American in the Ameri- 
can character, I wish to preach not the doctrine of ignoble ease but the 
doctrine of the strenuous life; the life of toil and effort; of labor and 
strife ; to preach that highest form of success which comes not to the man 
who desires mere easy peace but to the man who does not shrink from 
danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the 
splendid ultimate triumph. 

"A life of ignoble ease, a life of that peace which springs merely 
from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as 
little worthy of a nation as of an individual. I ask only that what every 
self-respecting American demands from himself, and from his sons, shall 
be demanded of the American nation as a whole. Who among you 
would teach your boys that ease, that peace is to be the first consider- 
ation in your eyes — to be the ultimate goal after which they strive? 
You men of Chicago have made this city great, you men of Illinois have 
done your share, and moie than your share, in making America great, 
because you neither preach nor practice such a doctrine. You work your- 
selves, and you bring up your sons to work. If you are rich and are 
worth your salt, vou will teach your sons that though they may have 
leisure, it is not to be spent in idleness ; for wisely used leisure merely 
means that those who possess it, being free from the necessity of working 
for their livelihood, are all the more bound to carry on some kind of non- 
remunerative work in science, in letters, in art, in exploration, in histori- 



Our Martyred President 375 

cal research — work of the type we most need in this country, the suc- 
cessful carrying out of which reflects most iionor upon the nation. 

ADMIRE VICTORIOUS EFFORT. 

"We do not achiiire the man of timid peace. We admire the man 
who embodies victorious effort ; the man wdio never wrongs his neigh- 
bor ; who is prompt to help a friend ; but who has those virile qualities 
necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life. It is liard to fail ; but 
it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing 
sa\'e l)y eft^M't. Freedom from effort in the present, merely means that 
there has been stored up effort in the past. A man can be freed from 
the necessity of work only by the fact that he or his fathers before him 
have worked to good purpose. If the freedom thus purchased is used 
aright, and the man still does actual work, though of a different kind, 
whether as a writer or a general, wdiether in the field of politics or in 
the field of exploration and adventure, he shows he deserves his good 
fortune. But if he treats this period of freedom from the need of actual 
labor as a period not of preparation but of mere enjoyment, he shows that 
he is simply a cumberer on the earth's surface; and he surely unfits him- 
self to hold his own with his fellow^s if the need to do so should again 
arise. A mere life of ease is not in the end a satisfactory life, and above 
all it is a life which ultimately unfits those wdio follow it for serious 
work in the world. 

NATION WaTIT GLORIOUS HISTORY. 

"As it is W'ith the individual so it is with the nation. It is a base 
untruth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice 
happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare 
mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by 
failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much 
nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither 
victory nor defeat. If in 1861 the men wdio loved the Union had believed 
that peace was the end of all things and war and strife the worst of all 
things and had acted up to their belief, we would have saved hundreds of 
thousands of lives, we would have saved hundreds of millions of dollars. 
Moreover, besides saving all the blood and treasure Ave then lavished, we 
would have prevented the heart-break of many women, the dissolution 
of many homes ; and we would h^xe spared the country those months of 
gloom and shame when it seemed as if our armies marched only to de- 
feat. We could have avoided all this suffering simply by shrinking from 
strife. And if we had thus avoided it we would have show^n that we 
were weaklings and that we were unfit to stand among the great nations 



376 Life of William McKinley 

of the earth. Thank God for the iron in the blood of our fathers, the 
men who upheld the wisdom of Lincoln and bore sword or rifle in the 
armies of Grant! Let us, the children of the men who proved themselves 
equal to the mighty days — let us, the children of the men who carried 
the greai civil war to a triumphant conclusion, praise the God of our 
fathers that the ignoble counsels of peace were rejected, that the sufl'er- 
ing and loss, the blackness of sorrow and despair, were unflinchingly 
faced and the years of strife endured; for in the end the slave was freed, 
the Union restored, and the mighty American republic placed once more 
as a helmeted queen among nations. 

THIS AGE HAS ITS TASKS. 

"We of this generation do not have to face a task such as that our 
fathers faced, but we have our tasks, and woe to us if we fail to perform 
them! We cannot, if we would, play the part of China, and be content 
to rot by inches in ignoble ease within our borders, taking no interest in 
what goes on beyond them; sunk in a scrambling commercialism; heed- 
less of the higher life, the life of aspiration, of toil and risk; busying 
ourselves only with the wants of our bodies for the day ; until suddenly 
we should find, beyond a shadow of question, what China has already 
found, that in this world the nation that has trained itself to a career of 
unwarlike and isolated ease is bound in the end to go down before other 
nations which have not lost the manly and adventurous cjualities. If we 
are to be a really great people, we must strive in good faith to play a 
great part in the world. We cannot avoid meeting great issues. All 
that we can determine for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well 
or ill. Last year we could not help being brought face to face with the 
problem of war with Spain. All we could decide was whether we should 
shrink like cowards from the contest or enter into it as beseemed a brave 
and liigh-spirited people; and, once in, whether failure or success should 
crovk^n our banners. So it is now. We cannot avoid the responsibilities 
that confront us in Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. All 
we can decide is whether we shall meet them in a way that will redound 
to the national credit, or whether we shall make our dealings with these 
new problems a dark and shameful page in our history. To refuse to 
deal with them at all merely amounts to dealing with them badly. We 
have a given problem to solve. It we undertake the solution there is, 
of course, always danger that we may not solve it aright, but to refuse 
to undertake the solution simply renders it certain that we cannot pos- 
sibly solve it aright. 

THOSE WHO SHRINK NOW. 

"The timid man, the lazy man, the man who distrusts his country, 



Our Martyred President. 377 

the overcivilized man, who has lost the great fighting, masterful virtues, 
the ignorant man and the man of dull mind, whose soul is incapable of 
feeling the mighty lift that thrills 'stern men with empires in their 
l^j-ains' — all these, of course, shrink from seeing the nation undertake its 
new duties ; shrink from seeing us build a navy and army adequate to our 
needs; shrink from seeing us do our share of the world's work by 
bringing order out of chaos in the great, fair tropic islands from which 
the valor of our soldiers and sailors has driven the Spanish flag. These 
are tlie men who fear the strenuous life, who fear the only national life 
which is really worth leading. They believe in that cloistered life which 
saps the hardy virtues in a nation, as it saps them in the individual ; or 
else they are wedded to thaj base spirit of gain and greed which recog- 
nizes in commercialism the be-all and end-all of national life, instead of 
realizing that, though an indispensable element, it is after all but one of 
the many elements that go to make up true national greatness. No 
country can long endure if its foundations are not laid deep in the ma- 
terial prosperity which comes from thrift, from business energy and 
enterprise, from hard, unsparing effort in the fields of industrial activity ; 
but neither was any nation ever yet truly great if it relied upon material 
prosperity alone. All honor must be paid to the architects of our ma- 
terial prosperitv; to the great captains of industry who have built our 
factories and our railroads; to the strong men who toil for wealth with 
brain or hand; for great is the debt of the nation to these and then- 
kind But our debt is yet greater to the men whose highest type is to be 
found in a statesman like Lincoln, a soldier like Grant. They showed 
by their lives that they recognized the law of work, the law of strife; 
they toiled to win a competence for themselves and those dependent upon 
them ; l)ut they recognized that there were yet other and even loftier 
(^l^ties — duties to the nation and duties to the race. 

"We cannot sit huddled within our own borders and avow ourselves 
merelv an assemblage of well-to-do hucksters who care nothing for what 
happens beyond. Such a policy would defeat even its own end; for as 
the nations -row to have ever wider and wider interests and are brought 
into closer and closer contact, if we are to hold our own m the struggle 
for naval and commercial supremacy, we must build up our power with- 
out our own borders. We must build the isthmian canal, and wemust 
crrasp the points of vantage which will enable us to have our say m de- 
ciding the destiny of the oceans of the East and the West. 

FROM STANDPOINT OF HONOR. 

"So much for the commercial side. From the standpoint of inter- 
national honor, the argument is even stronger. The guns that thundered 



378 Life of William McKinley 

off Manila and Santiago left ns echoes of glory, but they also left us a 
legacy of duty. If we drove out a mediseval tyranny only to make room 
for sa\age anarchy, we had better not have begun the task at all. It is 
worse than idle to say that we have no duty to perform and can leave 
to their fates the islands we have conquered. Such a course would be the 
course of infamy. It would be followed at once by utter chaos in the 
wretched islands themselves. Some stronger, manlier power would have 
to step in and do the work ; and w^e would have shown ourselves weak- 
lings, unable to carry to successful completion the labors that great and 
high-spirited nations are eager to undertake. 

"The work must be done. We cannot escape our responsibility, and 
if we are worth our salt, we shall l)e glad of the chance to do the work — 
glad of the chance to show ourselves equal to one of the great tasks set 
modern civilization. But let us not deceive ourselves as to the im- 
portance of the task. Let us not be misled by vain-glory into under- 
estimating the strain it will put on our powers. Above all, let us, as 
we value our own self-respect, face the responsibilities with proper seri- 
ousness, courage and high resolve. We must demand the highest order 
of integrity and al)ility in our public men who are to grapple with these 
new pr()l)]ems. We must hold to a rigid accountability those public serv- 
ants who show unfaithfulness to the interests of the nation or inability to 
rise to the high le\'el of the new^ demands upon our strength and our own 
resources. 

WISDOM IN BUILDING NAVY. 

"Of course, we must remember not to judge any public servant by 
any one act, and especially should we beware of attacking the men who 
are merely the occasions and not the causes of disaster. Let me illustrate 
what I mean by the army and the navy. If twenty years ago we had gone 
to war, we should have found the navy as absolutely unprepared as the 
army. At that time our ships could not have encountered with success 
the fleets of Spain any more than nowadays we can put untrained soldiers, 
no matter how brave, who are armed v.-ith archaic black-powder weapons, 
against well-drilled regulars armed with the highest type of modern 
repeating rifle. But in the early '80s the attention of the nation became 
directed to our naval needs. Congress most wisely made a series of 
appropriations to build up a new navy, and under a succession of able 
and patriotic secretaries, of both political parties, the navy was gradually 
luiilt up, until its material became equal to its splendid personnel, wath the 
result tliat last summer it leaped to its proper place as one of the most 
brilliant and formidable fighting navies in the entire world. We rightly 
])ay all honor to the men controlling the navy at the time it did these 
great deeds honor to Secretary Long and Admiral Dewey, to the cap- 



Our Martyred President 379 

tains who handled ships in action, to the daring Lieutenants who braved 
death in the smaller craft, and to the heads ot bureaus at Washington 
who saw that the ships were so commanded, so armed, so equipped, so 
well engincd, as to insure the best results. But let us also keep ever 
in mind that all of this would not have availed if it had not been for the 
wisdom of the men who during the preceding fifteen years had built 
up the navy. Keep in mind the secretaries of the navy during those 
years ; keep in mind the senators and congressmen who by their votes 
gave thic money necessary to build and to armor the ships, to con- 
struct the great guns, to train the crews; remember also those who 
actually did build the ships, the armor, and the guns; and remember 
the admirals and captains who handled battleship, cruiser and tor- 
pedo boat on the high seas, alone and in- squadrons, developing the 
seamanship, the gunnery, and the power of acting together, which 
their successors utilized so gloriously at IManila and off Santiago. 

REMEMBER THOSE WHO PULLED Bx\CK. 

"And, gentlemen, remember the converse, too. Remember that 
justice has two sides. Be just to those who built up the navy, and 
for the sake of the future of the country keep in niind those who op- 
l)osed its building up. Read the Congressional Record. Find out 
the senators and congressmen who opposed the grants for building 
new ships, who opposed the purchase of armor, without which the 
ships were worthless; who opposed any adequate maintenance for the 
navy department, and strove to cut down the number of men neces- 
sary to man our fleets. The men who did these things were one and 
all working to bring disaster on the country. They have no share in 
the glory of Manila, in the honor of Santiago. They have no cause 
to feel proud of the valor of our sea captains, of the renown of our 
Hag. Their motives may or may not have been good, but their acts 
were heavily fraught with evil. They did ill for the national honor; 
and we won in spite of their sinister opposition. 

"Now, apply all this to our public men of to-day. Our army has 
never been built up as it should be built up. I shall not discuss with 
an audience like this the puerile suggestion that a nation of seventy 
millions of freemen is in danger of losing its liberties from the exist- 
ence of an army of 100,000 men, three-fourths of whom will be em- 
|)loved in certain foreign islands, in certain coast fortresses, and on 
Indian reservations. No man of good sense and stout heart can take 
such a i^roposition seriously. If we are such weaklings as the proposi- 
tion im]:)lies, then we are unworthy of freedom in any event. To no 
body of men in the United States is the country so much indebted as 



380 Life of William McKinley 

to the splendid officers and enlisted men of the regiiiar army and navy ; 
there is no body from which the country has less to fear; and none of 
which it should be prouder, none which it should be more anxious to 
upbuild. 

NEEDS OF THE ARMY. 

"Our army needs complete reorganization — not merely enlarging — 
and the reorganization can only come as the result of legislation. A 
proper general staff should be established, and the positions of ord- 
nance, commissary, and cjuartermaster officers should be filled by detail 
from the line. Above all, the army must be given a chance to exer- 
cise in large bodies. Never again should we see, as we saw in the 
Spanish war, major generals in command of divisions who had never 
before commanded three companies together in the field. Yet, in- 
credible to relate, the recent congress has shown a cjueer inability 
to learn some of the lessons of the war. There were large bodies 
of men in both branches who opposed the declaration of war, who 
opposed the ratification of peace, who opposed the upbuilding of the 
army, and who even opposed the purchase of armor at a reasonable 
price fctr the battleships and cruisers, thereby putting an absolute stop 
to the building of any new fighting ships for the navy. If during 
the years to come any disaster should befall our arms, afloat or ashore, 
and thereby any shame come to the United States, remember that the 
blame will lie upon the men whose names appear upon the roll calls 
of congress on the wrong side of these great questions. On them 
will lie the burden of any loss of our soldiers and sailors, of any dis- 
honor to the flag; and upon you and the people of this county will lie 
the blame, if you do not repudiate, in no unmistakable way, what 
these men have done. The 1)lame will not rest upon the untrained 
commander of untried troops; upon the civil officers of a department, 
the organization of which has been left utterly inadequate; or upon 
the admiral with insufficient number of ships; but upon the public 
men who have so lamenta1)ly failed in forethought as to refuse to 
remedy these evils long in advance, and upon the nation that stands 
behind those public men. 

BLAME IN THE PRESENT HOUR. 

"So at the present hour no small share of the responsibility for the 
blood shed in the Philippines, the blood of our brothers and the blood 
of their wild and ignorant foes, lies at the thresholds of those who 
so long delayed in the adoption of the treaty of peace, and of those who 
by their worse than foolish words deliberately invited a savage peo- 
ple to plunge into a war fraught with such disaster for them— a war, 



Our Martyred President 381 

too, in which our own brave men, who follow the flag must pay with 
their blood for the silly, mock-humanitarianism of the prattlers w'ho sit 
at home in peace. 

"The army and navy are the sw'ords and the shield which this nation 
must carry if she is to do her duty among the nations of the earth — 
if she is not to stand merely as the China of the Western hemisphere. 
Our proper conduct toward the tropic islands we have wrested from 
Spain is merely the form which our duty has taken at the moment. 
Of course, we are bound to handle the affairs of our own household 
well. We must see that there is civic honesty, civic cleanliness, civic 
good sense in our home administration of city, state and nation. We 
must strive for honesty in office, for honesty tow^ards the creditors 
of the nation and of the individual ; for the wddest freedom of individual 
initiative where possible, and for the wisest control of individual in- 
itiative where it is liostile to the welfare of the many. But because we 
set our own household in order, we are not thereby excused from play- 
ing our part in the great affairs of the w^orld. A man's first duty is 
to^'his own home, but he is not thereby excused from doing his duty 
to the state; for if he fails in this second duty it is under the penalty 
of ceasing to be a freeman. In the same way, wdiile a nation's first duty 
is within its ow-n borders, it is not thereby absolved from facing its 
duties in the w^orld as a whole ; and if it refuses to do so it merely for- 
feits its right to struggle for a place among the peoples that shape the 
destiny of mankind." 

THE AMERICAN NEED OF A STRONG NAVY. 

ADDRESS ON LINCOLN DAY, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 1 3, 1 898. 

Mr. Roosevelt said : 

"Fifteen years ago we had no stand whatever among the naval 
nations At that time we ranked below Spain and Chili as a naval power. 
Now our navy has been built up until it can fairly clami to be about a 
tie with that of Germany for fifth place. It is as yet by no means as 
I-iro-c as it should be, and to lie supine and let other nations pass us 
^^•hen we have made so good a start would be one of those blunders 
which are worse than crimes. We have only made a begmnmg ; but it is 
a good beginning, and has been well made. Already the new navy has 
made its influence most powerfully felt for good in national affairs. K 
was to the existence of this navy that we owed the escape of the war with 
Chili seven years ago. It is the existence of the navy now which more 
than anvthing else prevents the chance of any foreign war; prevents i 
because \he surest way to avert a fight is to show that one is ready and 
able to fight should the need arise. 



382 Life of William McKinley 

"The navy is pre-eminently the arm of the government on which we 
must rely in carrying out the traditional policy of the United States. 
There are among us, unhappily, many men who, though perhaps good 
honest citizens in the ordinary relations of life, are either cursed with 
;tlie curse of timidity or else are afflicted with parochial minds, so that 
they are unable to look at anything save from the parochial standpoint. 
I believe that great good comes to the country from the scholar, and 
that good also comes to the country from the man of wealth; but the 
timid scholar who judges of the actual strife of living only from his 
standpoint in the cloister, and the man of wealth who get to think of 
nothing but wealth, and to regard the unsettling of the stock market as 
outweighing the upholding of national honor — these show themselves 
thoroughly undesirable citizens, in spite of the fact that they may be 
excellent men in their family relations, and many perform their ordinary 
civic duties honorably. So it is with the good people with parochial 
minds; the people who cannot understand that a great country must, 
whether it will or no, have a foreign policy, and that after all there is 
some nobler ideal for a great nation than that of being an assemblage 
of prosperous hucksters. In the fate of China today the shrill advocates 
of unintelligent peacefulness should see a grim object lesson. 

"Let me again repeat that the right arm of the nation in carrying out 
any foreign policy is the navy. It is of course true that we need ample 
coast fortifications; the last things in which we can afford to economize 
are forts and ships, for such economy implies the possibility of over- 
whelming national disaster ; but though we need the forts, we need the 
ships even more. The surest way to prevent an opponent's blow is by 
striking, not by parrying. Forts would be of great value in war, but 
they would not avert war, for no nation would be afraid of them, as 
forts are never offensive ; but a powerful navy would act as a deterrent to 
any nation inclined to go to war with us. If we have a great fighting 
fleet, a fleet of vessels such as we now have, manned by officers and 
crews like those which no\v man them, but in point of numbers rising- 
more nearly to equality with the greatness of our people; if we have such 
a fleet, capable, of offensive no less than of defensive work, there will be 
small chance that our people will be forced to fight, and still smaller 
chance that we will not emerge from any war immeasurably the gainer 
in honor and renown." 

In harmony with these ideas, it is semi-ofiicially reported that Presi- 
dent Roosevelt has stated that the navy of the United States must be 
increased at a rate that will keep it equal at kast to that of Germany and 
Russia, and, if possible, to bring it close to that of France, if not e(|ual 
to it. Tliis is, perhaps, the most important statement of a public policy 
yet made by the President. 



Our Martyred President 383 

It is for President Roosevelt to decide how great an addition will be 
made to the present naval program of construction. 

In discussing some of the various cpestions that confronted him, and 
would call for executive consideration, the President referred to the 
necessity of maintaining a navy compatible with the wonderful advances 
in commercial lines, and that with the opening of the new markets and 
the influence gained by this country abroad, the advisability of a 
stronger sea force would be inevitable. 

FEW GOOD FIGHTING SHIPS. 

The President referred to the small number of fighting ships at the 
beginning of the Spanish war, and incidentally said had Germany struck 
at this country with our fleets so widely separated, the supremacy of 
our sea power would have been seriously threatened, if not destroyed. 

The bureau chief has recommended the purchase of nearly one 
millicjn dollars' worth of smokeless powder. 

Heavy amounts for work on the big guns building here. 

Better facilities to maintain the present navy in repair. 

The e(iui])ment bureau will ask for large sums. 

New batteries for a number of the older ships will call for thousands 
of dollars. 

Additional torpedo boats are believed to be necessary, as well as 
battleships and armored cruisers. 

The later type of vessel being the swifter, is regarded by many 
ofllcers as being more necessary than battleships. 

The first message of the President to congress will doubtless deal 
with the important suhject. 

THE ROUGH RIDERS. 

Address of Governor Theodore Roosevelt at Las Vegas, N. M., June 
23, 1899: 

"Just at this time I would not have left New York state for any pur- 
])0se save to attend the reunion of my old regiment, and for that purpose 
I would have gone to Alaska or anywhere else, for the bond that unites 
us to one another is as close as any bond of human friendship can be. 
It was our good fortune to be among those accepted when the country 
called to arms a year ago last spring,' and when ten men volunteered 
for every one that could l)e chosen. I think I may say without boasting 
that the regiment did its duty in every way and that its record is a subject 
for honorable pride not only to the members themselves but to the coun- 
try at large. 

'T am proud of you because you never complained and never flinched. 



384 Life of William McKinley 

When you went to war you knew you would not have an easy time; 
you expected to encounter hardships and you took them without a mur- 
mur. You were ah reachness to learn and to show that prompt obedience, 
which makes it possible to turn the American volunteer so soon into a 
lirst-class type of fighting- man. 

"Of those of our number who landed for the brief campaign in the 
tropical midsummer against Santiago one-fourth were killed or wounded 
and three-fourths of the remainder were at one time or another stricken 
down by fever. Many died. But there is not one among you so poor in 
spirit that he does not count fever, wounds and death itself as nothing 
compared with the honor of having been able to serve with the regiment 
under tlie flag of the United States in one of the most righteous wars 
which this century has seen. 

TYPICAL AMERICAN REGIMENT. 

"This was a typical American regiment. The majority of its mem- 
bers came from the S(5uthwest, but not all. We had in our ranks East- 
erners, Westerners, Northerners, Southerners, Catholics, Protestants, 
Jews, Gentiles — men whose parents were born in Germany or Ireland, 
and men whose parents were born on the banks of the James, the Hudson 
or at Plymouth Rock nearly three centuries ago; and all were Americans 
in heart and soul, in spirit and purpose — Americans and nothing else. 
We knew no distinction of creed, birthplace or residence. All we cared 
for was that a man should do his duty, should show himself alert, patient 
and enduring ; good in camp and on the march, and valiant in battle. 

"My comrades, the regiment was but a microcosm of our great coun- 
try, and the principles which enabled us to make so much out of it are 
those upon which we must act in the nation itself if we are to stand 
level t(^ the needs of our mighty destiny. In administering this great 
country we must know no North, South. East or West; we must pay 
no heed to a man's creed ; we must be indifferent as to whether he is rich 
or poor ; provided only he is indeed a good man. a good citizen, a good 
American. 

'Tn our political and social life alike, in order to permanently succeed, 
we must base our conduct on the decalogue and the golden rule. We 
must put in practice those homely virtues for the lack of which no intel- 
lectual l)rilliancy, no material jirosperity, can ever atone. It is a good 
thing for a nation to be rich. Imt it is a better thing for a nation to be 
the mother of men who possess the qualities of honesty, of courage and 
of common sense. 

"We have many great problems ahead of us, we Americans, as we 
stride along the road to national greatness — problems of home adminis- 




to 



O 

Ou 

h 



Our Martyred President 38c 

tration and problems that affect our dealings with the outside world. 
We cannot solve them if we approach them in a spirit of levity or vain- 
glorious boastfulness ; still less if we approach them in a spirit of timid- 
ity; and least of all if in dealing with them we do not insist upon honesty 
and righteousness, upon that uprightness of character which is the key- 
stone in the arch of true national greatness. The proljlems that rise from 
year to year dift'er widely, and must be met in widely different ways ; but 
not one of them can be properly solved unless we approach it with a 
resolute fearlessness and with a sincere purpose to do justice to all men, 
exacting it from others, and exacting it no less from ourselves. 

PROUD OF HIS MEN. 

"I am proud of the way in which you have taken up the broken 
threads of your lives — in which you have gone back to the farm, the 
ranch, the mine, the factory and the counting room. In so doing you 
show yourselves to be typical American citizens, for it has always been 
the pride of our country that an xA.merican, while most earnestly desirous 
of peace, was ever ready to show himself a hard and dangerous fighter if 
need should rise, and that, on the other hand, when once the need had 
passed, he could prove that war had not hurt him for the work of peace, 
and that he was all the fitter to do this work for having done the other, 
too. 

"We may be called to war but once in a generation (and I most 
earnestly hope that we shall not have to face war again for many years), 
but the duties of peace are always with us, and these we must perform 
all our lives long, from year's end to year's end, if we are to prove our- 
selves in fact good citizens of the commonwealth. We must work hard 
for the sake of those dependent upon us ; we must see that our children are 
brought up in a way that will make them worthy of the great inheritance 
which we, their fathers, have ourselves received from those that went 
before us. We must do our duty by the state. We must frown upon 
dishonesty and corruption, and war for honesty and righteousness. 

"I am proud of you. my comrades, not only because you were brave 
in battle, but because when once the battle was over you showed your- 
selves always merciful to the weak. A coward in your ranks would have 
received short shrift indeed; but wdien once the battle was won T never 
knew one of you to perform an act of cruelty. I shall ever keep in mind 
the valor you showed as you fought In the jungles of Las Guasimas, as 
you charged up the slopes of the San Juan hills; and I shall keep in 
mind no iess the way in which you shared your scanty rations with the 
poor miserable refugees at El Caney, the way in which you tried to help 
the women and children upon whom war had laid its heavy hand. In 

25 



386 Life of William McKinley 

our regiment the man who flinched from an armed foe and the man who 
wronged a woman or a child would have met with equally quick and 
grim j ustice. 

TRIBUTE TO THE ABSENT. 

"Let me say a word of those to whom our thoughts should turn at 
such a time, both among the living and among the dead. To our absent 
living comrades, and especially to our former commander, now Major 
General Leonard Wood, whose administration of the Province of San- 
tiago has reflected such high credit not merely upon himself, but upon 
the nation so fortunate as to have him in her service, we send the heartiest 
and most loyal greetings. With these men we hope in the not distant 
future to strike hands again, and as long as we live and they live* we shall 
all be bound together by the most indissoluble of ties. 

"But when we come to speak of our dead comrades, of the men 
who gave their lives in the fierce rush of the jungle fighting, or who 
wasted to death in the fever camps, we can only stand with bared heads 
and pray that we may so live as at the end to die as worthily as these, 
our brothers, died. 

"Allen Capron, in the sunny prime of youth, in his courage, his 
strength, and his beauty; 'Bucky' O'Neill, than whom in all the army 
there breathed no more dauntless soul — of these and our other gallant 
comrades, the men who carried the rifles in the ranks, all we can say is 
that they proved their truth by their endeavor; that in the hour of the 
nation's need they rose level to the need, and quietly and cheerfully gave 
to their country the utmost that any man can give — their lives. We read 
in holy writ 'that greater love hath no man than this, to lay down his 
life for his friend.' And these men so loved their country that they gal- 
lantly gave their lives for her honor and renown and for the uplifting 
of the human race. 

"Now their work is over, their eyes are closed forever, their bodies 
molder in the dust, but the spirit that was in them cannot die, and it shall 
live for time everlasting. 

ADDRESS AT MINNEAPOLIS STATE FAIR, MINNEAPOLIS, 

SEPTE^IBER 2, 1901. 

"In his admirable series of studies of twentieth century problems 
Dr. Lyman Abbott has pointed out that we are a nation of pioneers; 
that the first colonists to our shores were pioneers, and that pioneers 
selected out from among the descendants of these early pioneers, mingled 
with others selected afresh from the old world, pushed westward into 
the wilderness and laid the foundations for new commonwealths. 



Our Martyred President 387 

"They were men of hope and expectation, of enterprise and energy; 
for the men of dull content or more dull despair had no part in the great 
movement into and across the new world. 

"Our country has been populated by pioneers, and therefore it has 
in it more energy, more enterprise, more expansive power than any other 
in the wide world. 

"You whom I am now addressing stand for the most part Ijut one 
eneration removed from these pioneers. You are typical Americans, 
lor you have done the great, the characteristic, the typical work of our 
iVmerican life. In making homes and carving out careers for yourselves 
and your children you have built up this state; throughout our history 
the success of the homemaker has been but another name for the up- 
Ijuilding of the nation. 

MEN WHO HAVE MADE THE COUNTRY. 

"The men who, with ax in the forest and pick in the mountains and 
:low on the prairies, pushed to completion the dominion of our people 
.,\er the American wilderness, have given the definite shape to our 
nation. They have shown the qualities of daring endurance, and far- 
sightedness, of eager desire for victory and stubborn refusal to accept 
defeat, which go to make up the essential manliness of the American 
character. Above all they have recognized in practical form the funda- 
mental law of success in American life — the law of worthy work, the 
law of high, resolute endeavor. 

"We have but little room among our people for the timid, the irres- 
olute, and the idle ; and it is no less true that there is scant room in the 
world at large for the nation with mighty thews that dares not to be 
great. 

"Surely in speaking of the sons of men who actually did the rough 
and hard and infinitely glorious work of making the great North- 
west what it now is, I need hardly insist upon the mghteousness of this 
doctrine. In your own vigorous lives you show by every act how scant 
is your patience with those who do not see in the life of effort the life 
supremacy worth living. 

IDLE NOT TO BE ENVIED. 

"Sometimes we hear those who do not work spoken of with envy. 
Surely the willfully idle need arouse in the breast of a healthy man no 
emotion stronger than that of angry contempt. The feeling of envy 
would have in it an admission of inferiority on our part, to which the 
men who know not the sterner joys of life are not entitled. 



388 Life of William McKinley 

"Poverty is a bitter thing, but it is not as bitter as the existence of 
restless vacuity and physical, moral, and intellectual iiabbiness to which 
those doom themselves who elect to spend all their years in that vainest 
of all vain pursuits, the pursuit of mere pleasure, as a sufficient end in 
itself. 

"The willfully idle man, like the willfully barren woman, has no place 
in a sane, healthy, and vigorous community. Moreover, the gross and 
hideous selfishness for which each .stands defeats even its own miserable 
aims. Exactly as infinitely the happiest woman is she who has borne 
and brought up many healthy children, so infinitely the happiest man 
is he who has toiled hard and successfully in his life work. 

HONEST WORK BEST FOR ALL. 

"The work may be done in a thousand different ways ; wdth the brain 
or the hands, in the study, the field, or the workshop; if it is honest 
work, honestly done, and well worth doing, that is all we have a right 
to ask. 

"Every father and mother here if they are wise, will bring up their 
children not to shirk difficulties, but to meet and overcome them; not 
to strive after a life of ignoble ease, but to strive to do their duty, first to 
themselves and their families, and then to the whule state ; and this duty 
must inevitably take the shape of work in some form or other. 

"You, the sons of pioneers, if you are true to your ancestry, must 
make yuur lives as worthy as they made theirs. They sought for true 
success, and, therefore, they did not seek ease. They knew that success 
comes only to those who lead the life of endeavor. 

"It seems to me that the simple acceptance of this fundamental fact 
of American life, this acknowledgment that the law of work is the 
fundamental law of our being, will help us to start aright in facing 
not a few of the problems that confront us from without and from 
within. 

"As regards internal affairs, it should teach us the prime need of 
remembering that, after all has been said and done, the chief factor in 
any man's success or failure must be his own character; that is, the 
sum of his common sense, his courage, his virile energy and capacity. 
Nothing can take the place of this individual factor. 

MUST BE HARMONY OF EFFORT. 

"I do not for a moment mean that much cannot be done to supple- 
ment it. Besides each one of us working individually, all of us have 



Our Martyred President 389 

got to work together. We cannot possibly do our best work as a nation 
unless all of us know how to act in combination as well as how to act 
each individually for himself. The acting in combination can take 
many forms; but, of course, its most effective form must be when it 
comes in the shape of law; that is, of action by the community as a whole 
through the law-making body. 

"But it is not possible ever to insure prosperity merely by law. 
Something for good can be done by law, and bad laws can do an infinity 
of mischief; but, after all, the best law can only prevent wrong and 
injustice and give to the thrifty, the far-seeing, and the hard-working 
a chance to exercise to the best advantage their special and peculiar 
abilities. 

"No hard and fast rule can be laid down as to where our legisla- 
tion shall stop in interfering between man and man, between interest and 
interest. 

"All that can be said is that it is highly undesirable on the one hand 
to weaken individual initiative, and on the other hand that, in a con- 
stantly increasing number of cases, we shall find it necessary in the 
future to shackle cunning as in the past we have shackled force. 

LAWS SHOULD GUARD WAGE EARNERS. 

"It is not only highly desirable, but necessary, that there should be 
legislation which shall carefully shield the interests of wageworkers, 
and which shall discriminate in favor of the honest and humane em- 
ployer by removing the disadvantage under which he stands when com- 
pared with unscrupulous competitors who have no conscience, and will 
do rigjit only under fear of punishment. 

"Nor can legislation stop only with what are termed labor questions. 
The vast individual and corporate fortunes, the vast combinations of 
capital, which have marked the development of our industrial system, 
create new conditions and necessitate a change from the old attitude of 
the state and nation toward property. 

"It is probal)ly true that the large majority of the fortunes that 
now e.xist in this country have been amassed, not by injuring our people, 
but as an incident to the conferring of great benefits upon the com- 
munity; and this, no matter what may have been the conscious purpose 
of th(\se amassing them. 

"There is but the scantiest justification for most of the outcry 
against the men of wealth as such; and it ought to be unnecessary to 
state that any appeal which directly or indirectly leads to suspicion and 
hatred among ourselves, which tends to limit opportunity, and, there- 



390 Life of William McKinley 

fore, to shut the door of success against poor men of talent, and, finally, 
which entails the possibility of lawlessness and violence, is an attack 
upon the fundamental properties of American citizenship. 

INTERESTS OF EVERYONE THE SAME. 

"Our interests are at bottom common; in the long run we o-o un or 
go down together. ^ ^ 

"Yet more and more it is evident that the state, and, if necessary 
the nation, has got to possess the right of supervision and control as 
regards the great corporations which are its creatures; particularly as 
regards the great business combinations which derive a portion of their 
miportance from the existence of some monopolistic tendency. 

"The right should be exercised with caution and self-restraint, but 
it should exist, so that it may be invoked if the need arises. 

_ "So much for our duties, each to himself and each to his neighbor 
withm the limits of our own country. But our country, as it strides 
forward with ever-increasing rapidity to a foremost place among the 
world powers, must necessarily find, more and more, that it has world 
duties also. 

NO ONE CAN SHIRK HIS DUTY. 

"There are excellent people who believe that we can shirk these 
duties and .yet retain our self-respect; but these good people are in error 
Other good people seek to deter us from treading the path of hard but 
lofty duty by bidding us remember that all nations that have achieved 
greatness, that have expanded and played their part as world powers 
have m the end passed away. So they have; so have all others. The 
weak and the stationary have vanished as surely as, and more rapidly 
than, those whose citizens felt within them the lift that impels generous 
souls to great and noble effort. 

"This is another way of stating the universal law of death, which is 
Itself part of the universal law of life. The man who works, the man 
who does great deeds, in the end dies as surely as the veriest idler who 
cumbers the earth's surface; but he leaves behind him the great fact 
that he has done his work well. So it is with nations. While the 
nation that has dared to be great, that has had the wlU and the power to 
change the destiny of the ages, in the end must die; yet no less surely 
the nation that has played the part of the weakling must also die; and, 
Avhereas the nation that has done notliing leaves nothing behind it, the na- 
tion that has done a great work really continues, though in changed 
form, forevermore. The Roman has passed aw^ay, exactly as all nations of 



Our Martyred President 391 

cinti(iiiity which did not expand when he expanded ha\e passed away; 
hut their very memory has vanished, while he himself is still a living 
force throughout the wide world in our entire civilization of today, 
and will so continue through countless generations, through untold ages. 

BELIEF IN country's GREATNESS. 

"It is because we believe with all our heart and soul in the greatness 
of this country, because we feel the thrill of hardy life in our veins, and 
are confident that to us is given the privilege of playing a leading 
part in the century that has just opened, that w^e hail with eager delight 
the opportunity to do whatever task Providence may allot us. 

"We admit with all sincerity that our first duty is within our own 
household ; that we must not merely talk, but act, in favor of cleanliness 
and decency and righteousness, in all political, social and civic matters. 
No prosperity and no glory can save a nation that is rotten at heart. We 
must ever keep the core of our national being sound, and see to it that 
not only our citizens in private life but above all, our statesmen in 
public life, practice the old, commonplace virtues wdiich from time 
immemorial have lain at the root of all true national well-being. 

"Vet, while this is our first duty, it is not our whole duty. Exactly 
as each man, while doing first his duty to his wife and the children 
within his home, must yet, if he hopes to amount to much, strive 
mightily in the world outside his home, so our nation, while first of all 
-seeing to its own domestic well-being, must not shrink from playing its 
part among the great nations without. 

NATIONAL NEEDS EVER CHANGING. 

"Our duty may take many forms in the future, as it has taken many 
forms in the past. Nor is it possible to lay down a hard and fast rule 
for all cases. We must ever face the fact of our shifting national 
needs, of the always changing ojDportunities that present themselves. 
But we may be certain of one thing: whether we wish it or not, we 
cannot avoid hereafter having duties to do in the face of other nations. 
All that we can do is to settle whether we shall perform these duties 

well or ill. 

"Right here let me make as vigorous a plea as I know how in favor 
of saying nothing that we do not mean, and of acting without hesita- 
tion tip to whatever we say. 

"A good many of you are probably acquainted with tlie old proverb : 
'Speak softly and carry a big stick— you will go far.' If a man con- 



392 Life of William McKinley 

imually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from 
trouble; and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness 
there does not lie strength, power. In private life there are few beings 
more obnoxious than the man who is always loudly boasting, and if 
the boaster is not prepared to back up his words his position becomes 
absolutely contemptible. 

SELF-GLORIFICATION UNDIGNIFIED. 

"So it is with the nation. It is both foolish and undignified to 
indulge in undue self-glorification, and above all in loose-tongued 
denunciation of other peoples. Whenever on any point we come in 
contact with a foreign power I hope that we shall always strive to speak 
courteously and respectfully of that foreign power. 

"Let us make it evident that we intend to do justice. Then let us 
make it equally evident that we will not tolerate injustice being done us 
in return. 

"Let us further make it evident that we use no words which we are 
not prepared to back up with deeds, and that, while our speech is always 
moderate, we are ready and willing to make it good. Such an attitude 
will be the surest possible guarantee of that self-respecting peace, the 
attainment of which is and must ever be tlie prime aim of a self- 
governing people. 

"This is the attitude we should take as regards the Monroe doctrine. 
There is not the least need of blustering about it. Still less should it 
be used as a pretext for our own aggrandizement at the expense of any 
other American state. 

"But most emphatically we must make it evident that we intend on 
this point ever to maintain the old American position. Indeed, it is 
hard to understand how any man can take any other position now that 
we are all looking forward to the building of the isthmian canal. 

MONROE DOCTRINE NOT AGGRESSION. 

"The Monroe doctrine is not international law, but there is no neces- 
sity that it should be. All that is needful is that it should continue to 
be a cardinal feature of American policy on th.is continent; and the 
Spanish- American states should, in their own interests, champion it as 
strongly as we do. We do not by this doctrine intend to sanction any 
policy of aggression by one American commonwealth at the expense of 
any other, nor any policy of commercial discrimination against any 
foreign power whatsoever. 



Our Martyred President 393 

"Commercially, as far as this doctrine is concerned, all we wish is 
a fair field and no favor; but if we are wise we shall strenuously insist 
that under no pretext whatsoever shall there be any territorial aggran- 
dizement on American soil by any European power, and this, no matter 
what form the territorial aggrandizement may take. 

"We most earnestly hope and believe that the chance of our having 
any hostile military complication with any foreign power is small. But 
that there will come a strain, a jar, here and there, from commercial 
and agricultural — that is, from industrial — competition, is almost in- 
evitable. 

FIRST DUTY TO PEOPLE AT HOME. 

"Here, again, we have got to remember that our first duty is to our 
own people, and yet that we can get justice best by doing justice. We 
must continue the policy that has been so brilliantly successful in the 
past, and so shape our economic system as to give every advantage to 
the skill, energy, and intelligence of our farmers, merchants, manu- 
facturers, and wageworkers; and yet we must also remember, in dealing 
with other nations, that benefits must be given when benefits are sought. 

"It is not possible to dogmatize as to the exact way of attaining this 
end, for the exact conditions cannot be foretold. In the long run one 
of our prime needs is stability and continuity of economic policy; and 
yet, through treaty or by direct legislation, it may, at least in certain 
cases, become advantageous to supplement our present policy by a sys- 
tem of reciprocal benefit and obligation. 

"Throughout a large part of our national career our history has 
been one of expansion, the expansion being of different kinds at dif- 
ferent times. This expansion is not a matter of regret but of pride. It 
is vain to tell a people as masterful as ours that the spirit of enterprise is 
not safe. The true American has never feared to run risks when 
the prize to be won was of sufficient value. 

CUBAN INTERVENTION UNSELFISH. 

"No nation capable of self-government and of developing by its 
own efforts a sane and orderly civilization, no matter how small it 
may be, has anything to fear from us. Our dealings with Cuba illustrate 
this, and should be forever a subject of just national pride. ^ 

"We speak in no spirit of arrogance when we state as a simple his- 
toric fact that never in recent years has any great nation acted with 
such disinterestedness as we have shown in Cuba. W^e freed the island 
from the Spanish voke. We then earnestly did our best to help the 



394 Life of William McKinley 

Cubans in the establishment of free education, of law and order, of 
material prosperity, of the cleanliness necessary to sanitary well-being 
in their great cities. 

"We did all this at great expense of treasure, at some expense of 
life; and now we are establishing them in a free and independent 
commonwealth, and have asked in return nothing whatever save that at 
no time shall their independence be prostituted to the advantage of some 
foreign rival of ours or so as to menace our well-l:)eing. To have 
failed to ask this would have amounted to national stultification on our 
part. 

PEACE BROUGHT TO PTIILIPriNES. 

"In the Philippines we have brought peace, and we are at this 
moment giving them such freedom and self-government as they could 
never under any conceivable conditions have obtained had we turned 
them loose to sink into a welter of blood and confusion, or to become 
the prey of some strong tyranny without or within. The bare recital of 
the facts is sufficient to show that we did our duty; and what prouder 
title to honor can a nation have than to have done its duty? We have 
done our duty to ourselves, and we have done the higher duty of pro- 
moting the civilization of n-iaiikind. 

"The first essential of civilization is law. Anarchy is simply the 
hand-maiden and forerunner of tyranny and despotism. Law and 
order enforced by justice and by strength lie at the foundation of civ- 
ilization. Law must be based upon justice, else it cannot stand, and it 
must be enforced with resolute firmness, because weakness in enforcing it 
means in the end that there is no justice and no law, nothing but the 
rule of disorderly and unscrupulous strength. 

"Without the habit of orderly obedience to the law, without tlie 
stern enforcement of the laws at the expense of those who defiantly 
resist them, there can be no possible progress, moral or material, in 
civilization. There can be no weakening of the law'-abiding spirit at 
home if we are permanently to succeed ; and just as little can we afford 
to show weakness abroad. Lawlessness and anarchy were put down in 
the Phihppines as a prerequisite to inducing the reign of justice. 

BARBARIS:^! TO BE DESTI^OYED. 

''Barbarism has and can have no place in a civilized world. It is 
our duty toward the people living in barl)arism to see that they are 
freed from their chains, and we can only free them l3y destroying bar- 
barism itself. The missionary, the merchant, and the soldier may each 



Our Martyred President 395 

have to play a part in this destruction and in the consequent upUfting 
of the people. 

"Exactly as it is the duty of a civilized power scrupulously to re- 
spect the rights of all weaker civilized powers and gladly to help those 
who are struggling toward civilization, so it is its duty to put down 
savagery and barbarism. 

"As in such a work human instruments must be used, and as human 
instruments are imperfect, this means that at times there will be in- 
justice ; that at times merchant, or soldier, or even missionary may do 
wrong.' Let us instantly condemn and rectify such wrong when it 
occurs, and if possible punish the wrongdoer. But, shame, thrice shame 
to us, if we are so foolish as to make such occasional wrongdomg an 
excuse for failing to perform a great and righteous task. 

ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. 

"Not only in our own land but throughout the world, throughout 
all history, the advance of civilization has been of incalculable benefit 
to mankmd, and those through whom it has advanced deser^■e the 
highest honor. All honor to the missionary, all honor to the soldier, all 
holior to the merchant who now in our day have done so much to brmg 
light into the world's dark places. 

"Let me insist again, for fear of possible misconstruction, upon the 
fact that our dutv is twofold, and that we must raise others while we 
■are benefiting ourselves. In bringing order to the Philippines, our sol- 
diers added a new page to the honor roll of American history, and they 
incalculably benefited the islanders themselves. Under the wise admin- 
istration of Governor Taft the islands now enjoy a peace and liberty ot 
which they have hitherto never even dreamed. 

"But this peace and liberty under the law must be supplemented by 
material by industrial, development. Every encouragement should be 
given to their commercial development, to the introduction of Ameincan 
Llustries and products; not merely because this wil be a §-ocl ;mg 
for our people, but infinitely more because it will be of incalculable 
benefit to the people of the Philippines. 

MISTAKES TEACH THEIR LESSON. 

"We shall make mistakes; and if we let these mistakes frighten us 
from work we shall show ourselves weaklings. Half a century ago 
Minnesota and the two Dakotas were Indian hunting g^o"";^^; ^^^^ 
committed plcnlv of blunders, and now and then worse than blunder., 



396 Life of William McKinley 

in our dealings with the Indians. But who does not admit at the pres- 
ent day that we were right in wresting from barbarism and adding to 
civilization the territory out of which we have made these beaudful 
states? And now we are civiHzing the Indian and putting him on a 
level to which he could never have attained under the old conditions 

"In the Philippines let us remember that the spirit and not the mere 
form of government is the essential matter. The Tagalogs have a hun- 
dredfold the freedom under us that they would have if we had aban- 
doned the islands. We are not trying to subjugate a people; we are 
trying to develop them and make them a law-abiding, industrious and 
educated people, and, we hope, ultimately, a self-governing people. 

READY TO FACE GRAVE PROBLEMS. 

"In short, in the work we have done we are but carrying out the 
true principles of our democracy. We work in a spirit of self-respect 
for ourselves and of good will toward others; m a spirit of love for and 
of infinite faith in mankind. We do not blindly refuse to face the 
evils ^that exist or the shortcomings inherent in humanity, but across 
blunaering and shirking, across selfishness and meanness of motive 
across short-sightedness and cowardice, we gaze steadfastly toward the 
far horizon of golden triumph. 

"If you will study our past history as a nation you will see we have 
made many blunders and have been guilty of many shortcomings, and 
yet have always in the end come out victorious because we have refused 
to be daunted by blunders and defeats— have recognized them, but have 
persevered in spite of them. 

"So it must be in the future. We gird up our loins as a nation 
with the stern purpose to play our part manfullv in winning the ultimate 
triumph, and therefore we turn scornfully aside from the paths of mere 
ease and idleness and with unfaltering steps tread the rough road of 
endeavor, smiting down the wrong and battling for the right as Great- 
heart smote and battled in Bunyan's immortal story." 

TRIBUTES TO THE CHARACTER OF ROOSEVELT. 
PRESIDENT Roosevelt's pledge. 
The Chicago Record-Herald says : 

"President Roosevelt signalized his accession to office by volunteer- 
mg a pledge of conservatism couched in the following terms: 

" Tn this hour of deep and terril.Ie national bereavement I wish to 
State that it shall be my aim to continue absolutely unbroken the policy 



Our Martyred President 397 

of President McKinley for the peace and prosperity and honor of our 

beloved country.' 

"Men who know the President well needed no such assurance, but 
the frio-htfully tragic death of President McKinley, the sudden and 
wholly^nlexpected^ change, were sure to excite apprehension ni sonic 
minds and Mr. Roosevelt's (luick recognition of the fact and the swiii 
decision with which he acted are as convincing evidence of his strong 
common sense and sagacity as the words which he uttered. Pie was not 
called upon to make any announcement whatsoever or any prom:se 
except the one that appears in the official oath which he took.^ But his 
statement, which was addressed to members of his predecessor s cabinet, 
anticipated that solemnity. It was formulated at the very first oppor- 
tunity under the most impressive circumstances. 

"In this connection it may be added also that whenever and wherever 
the new President has been conceived of as a man all rashness and im- 
petuositv, with something of the saving grace of sincerity, there has 
leen a 'radical mistake concerning his character. Sincerity he has of 
the direct and downright kind. It pervades him through and through to 
the exclusion of every trace of insincerity, but what has been called his 
rashness was. more accurately speaking, earnestness. It is not the inspi- 
ration to reckless disregard of tradition and precedent but the energizing 
power that makes a true conservatism, a thorough instruction through 
experience and study in the principles of American government count foi 

'''"^Tresklent Roosevelt will be loyal to sound finance as President 
McKinlev was. He will demonstrate that he is worthy the confidence of 
Uie business interests of the country on all accounts. In urging the 
policy of reciprocity he will follow the lines laid down m President 
McKinley's Buffalo address, doing everything to advance, not nng o 
upset or'disorganize trade and commerce. He will cultivate ^"lend y 
- lations with other nations, he will conciliate the people of Porto Rico 
and the Philippines, insisting only that 'our authority could not be less 
than our responsibility' in those islands. 

-All this is clear from the pledge, which implies the perception that 
he has the "same mandate from the people as the lamented statesman 
.o'e death we mourn, and that he is under the same obligations as 
well as the acknowledgment that in fulfilling these obligations his best 
o-nide is President McKinley's example. ,., r n 

^"Te Buffalo address is the keynote of President Roosevelt s pol.cy. 

Mr Roosevelt took possession of the White House most nnosten- 
tntion h and entered 4ith alacrity and enthusiasm upon the grea 
re po bilities of his office, mastering details w.th an ease and rapKluy 



398 Life of William McKinley 

tJiat attested his (iuicK aijprehension and great learning in administra- 
tive affairs, to the dehght and astonishment of his cabinet. But this 
excited no surprise on the part of an expectant and admiring public, 
whicli had 1)een well prepared for a great display of ability and fitness 
by the brilliant campaign he conducted as candidate for the vice presi- 
dency, when he appeared in all sections of the country, exciting his 
supporters to an ecstasy of enthusiasm and winning the respect of his 
political opponents hf logic, eloquence, ready .wit and equanimity of 
temper. 

Not since the era of good feeling that prevailed during the adminis- 
tration of James Monroe did any President of the United States receive 
more cordial support and sympathy from men of all parties and every 
section of the country than did Theodore Rorosevelt upon assuming the 
duties of his office. Well endowed physically, mentally and morally, 
energetic and studious in his habits, w^ell informed on all the politicaV 
questions of the day, possessed of a conscience and bent on following its 
dictates, supported by a faithful, loving and rxcomplished wife, sur- 
rounded by a troop of happy, devoted children and admired and trusted 
by the people of the greatest government on earth, Theodore Roose- 
velt is to be congratulated by the nation, whose people may also congrat- 
ulate themselves on securing such a man t(^ take up and carry to full 
fruition the noble and patriotic work so splendidly begun and success- 
fully developed by its martyred President, William McKinley. 

A TRUTH TELLER AND TRUTH WORKER. 

The Christian Endeavor World says : 

'Tn the presidency Mr. Roosevelt will be a truth teller and a truth 
worker, as he has been elsewhere. He will be a fearless advocate of 
civd serA'ice. He will be a respecter of the Sabbath and an example of a 
God-fearmg, church-going man. He is never ashamed to let it be 
known that he is a communicant of the Dutch Reformed Church, an 
earnest and influential Christian body. 

^'Tlappy is the nation that has in her chief ruler's seat a man who so 
embodies tlie yhlh and practical elements of Christian manhood. We 
beheve that he will dignify and honor the position. Let us see to it that 
people and press never forget the respect due to his sterling manhood 
and his high office. May the anarchist, the cartoonist, and the yellow- 
journal slanderers— accomplices in our present sorrow and shame— be 
restramed from repeating the past, and may the mutual love and larger 
national influence foreshadowed in President McKinlev's last davs^be 
reahzed under the man who providentially succeeds hini. 

"Long live President Roosevelt!" 



Our Martyred President 399 

WILL BLCO.Mii ML)Ar: euXSERVATIVE. 

The Xortlnvestern Christian Advocate says : 

"While JNIr. Roosevelt is aggressive in all that he undertakes, he 

l)()ssesses practical sense and, as is usually the case with men of intelli- 

ence and sagacity, will become more conservative under the sense of 

sponsibility. Even if he were disposed to adopt a new policy, he would 

adily perceive that the circumstances of Mr. McKinley's death would 

iider a change from his policy unwise, at least until the march of events 

;:d furnished some excuses therefor. 

"President Roosevelt's course from the moment that he first learned 

I the shot which ultimately caused the death of the President has won 

im the respect and affection of the American people. Nothing that he 

■uld have done would have evoked heartier admiration than his action 

Iter arriving in Buffalo, in proceeding at once, before taking the oath as 

, resident, from his train to the Milburn home to tender his sympathy to 

the stricken widow of the dead president. His position is delicate and 

responsible. May he have divine wisdom to act aright !" 

Roosevelt's policy. 

The policy of President Roosevelt, as he has outlined, will be for a 
more liberal and extensive reciprocity in the purchase and sale of com- 
modities, so that the overproduction of this country can be satisfactorily 
disposed of by fair and equitable arrangements with foreign countries; 

The abolition entirely of commercial war with other countries and 
the adoption of reciprocity treaties. 

The abolition of such tariffs on foreign goods as are no longer 
needed for revenue, if such abolition can be had without harm to our 
industries and labor. 

Direct commercial lines should be established between the eastern 
coast of the United States and the ports in South America and the 
Pacific coast ports of Mexico, Central America and South America. 

The encouraging of the merchant marine and the building of ships 
which shall carry the American flag and be owned and controlled by 
Americans and American capital. 

The building and completion as soon as possible of the isthmian 
canal, so as to give direct water communication with the coasts of Cen- 
tral America, South America and Mexico. 

The construction of a cable, owned by the government, connecting 
ur mainland with our foreign possessions, notably Hawaii and the 

Philippines. 

The use of conciliatory methods of arbitration in all disputes with 
foreign nations, so as to avoid armed strife. 



400 Life of William McKinley 

The protection of the savings of the people in banks and in other 
forms of investment by the preservation of the commercial prosperity of 
the country, and the placing in positions of trust of men of only the 
highest integrity. 

FAITH IN ROOSEVELT IN EUROPE. 

y\merican business men in Europe are convinced that President 
Roosevelt's commercial p(jlicy will avert the threatened danger of a 
commercial union of the continental nations against the United States. 

They are satisfied that the President will adopt the policy outlined 
in President McKinley's speech at Buffalo, standing on the broad idea 
of reciprocity and avoiding tariff wars with foreign nations. 

They are the more convinced of this since President Roosevelt has 
shown his inclination to adopt the ideas of his predecessor. There is a 
strong feeling abroad that under these new conditions the United States 
is destined to secure a large share of the trade of the foreign markets 
of the world. 

A MAN OF STRONG TRAITS, THE PERSONIFICATION OF THE YOUNGER 
GENERATION OF AMERICANS. 

The London press agree in stating that further familiarity with the 
idea of Mr. Roosevelt as President is having its natural result in dissi- 
pating doubts entertained as to the effect of his succession upon the 
foreign policy of the United States. At any rate, it is becoming gener- 
ally conceded in Great Britain that the United States has olDtained a 
President of great distinction and character. The exposition of his 
policy Sunday is the subject of general comment. 

The Daily Graphic, which points out that the President of the United 
States occupies a more powerful position than any other sovereign in 
Christendom, with the possible exceptions of the German emperor and 
the czar of Russia, sums up his policy as "that of a sane imperialist, 
devoted to the advancement and glory of his country without wrongino- 
others." 

CALLS HIM A LEADER. 

The Morning Post, in an editorial, says : 

"He is a personification of the younger generation of Americans who 
are looking forward rather than dreaming of the past. He is a man who 
seems made to be a_^ leader of his countrymen in the new time which 
began with the war with Spain. He will he a President of great initia- 
tive, devoted to the national rather than to the party ideal." 

This journal says that "no nation ever came to maturity without 




h 

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u 

CO 

Q 
Z 

< 



i. »j«i».niilt l »JJlllMi 



Our Martyred President 401 

attempting" to assert itself as one, if not the first, of the governing powers 
of the world." In conclusion, the Morning Post recommends Great 
Lir'tain to "try to appreciate the American ideals instead of lecturing 
.Americans on their diplomatic methods." 

STRONG MAN AN ARDENT PATRIOT. 

The Post-Standard, Syracuse, New York. 

A strong man, an ardent patriot, a hrave soldier succeeds William 
McKinley as President of the United States. We know Theodore 
Roosevelt here in New York state, and we have every confidence in him. 
lie falls heir to vast responsibilities. The ordeal that confronts him will 
test his patience, his wisdom, his diplomacy and his courage as they 
have not been tested yet. 

The prayers of the nation arise to heaven m behalf of Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

GREAT MAN, SAYS DAILY MAIL. 

Th€ London Daily Mail says : 

"The United States have a great man at their head. We may ex- 
pect with confidence that Mr. Roosevelt will be a moderating and not 
an exasperating influence." 

"President Roosevelt's personality attracts the sympathies of the 
English. Alany stories are told of his athletic and sporting tastes, as 
well as of his achievements as a man of letters, rough rider and public 
man. 

"His accession to office is fraught with great possibilities," says the 
Westminster Gazette. "To a great extent an absolutely new element 
has been brought into the world." 

After alluding to the Alaskan boundary and Nicaragua canal ques- 
tion, the paper says: 

"Will his impulsiveness lead him to take short cuts that may prove 
long and expensive? Time and experience can alone determine." 

WILL BE STRONG PRESIDENT. 

The London Globe thinks President Roosevelt has already shown 
such ability that he would have succeeded President McKinley in 1905 
and is confident that he will be a strong and able President. 

The afternoon papers all print complimentary editorials on Presi- 
dent Roosevelt. They express the belief that his public record and mani- 
fold activities, coupled with the supreme responsibility which has been 
thrust upon him, will make him an excellent ruler. 



402 Life of William McKinley 

PRAISE FROM THE GERMAN PRESS. 

All the German papers publish the words spoken by Mr. R.oosevelt 
when taking the oath of office as President. Most of them agree that 
definite opinions regarding his political course are premature. 

"Since the battle of San Juan hill," says the Beliner Neuste Nach- 
ricten, "Mr. Roosevelt has been the most popular man in the United 
States. So far as Germany is concerned, there is no reason to assume 
that he is any less friendly than was his predecessor. His utterances 
show that he fully esteems the good relations existing between the 
United States and Germany. He lived for a time in this country, which 
is terra incognita to him." 

The National Zeitung says : ''Firmness and energy are prominent 
features of the character of President Roosevelt; but a strong sense of 
duty has always quenched his fervid activity, and it guarantees, with his 
new^ responsibilities, the peaceful development of the country. He will 
not abuse the Monroe doctrine. As a politician and historian he has 
frequently expressed a clear understanding of American policy." 

ROOSEVELT WINS THE SOUTH. 

The Chicago Record-Herald justly says : 

"In no section of the Union will the decision of President Roosevelt 
to retain the cabinet and carry out, unbroken, the policies of his prede- 
cessor be received with greater satisfaction than in the South. For this 
wise action the South will give him unstinted praise and unwavering 
loyalty. 

"The South had learned to love and trust McKinley. Although it 
followed blindly the political custom of a quarter century and more of 
giving its electoral vote to his opponent it came to regard McKinley as 
the first president since the war who really understood the South and 
who had an adequate comprehension of its exhaustless resources and 
its great industrial future. Mclvinley knew the South by personal 
contact wath her people, and the economic theories he championed in his 
earlier political career, and which gave him fame as a statesman, caused 
him to investigate the industrial possibilities of the South and to famil- 
iarize himself wath her industrial conditions. 

"It is easy to understand, therefore, the heartiness of the South's 
response to the action of President Roosevelt in promising to continue 
the McKinley administration in all its policies and pledges until the end 
of the presidential term. The loyal sentiment of the South is happily 
voiced by Senator Pritchard of North Carolina, a man who is eminently 
qualified to speak for the new and progressive South, who said in ,?n 
interview at Washinsfton : 



Our Martyred President 403 

" 'I think Mr. Roosevelt will make an exemplary president in every 
sense of the word. He had a great many friends in the South and has 
had them for years. Since his declaration to the effect that he purposes 
to enforce the plans formulated by the late president, however, his friends 
there have increased many fold, and the southern people generally are 
disposed to lend him their hearty support.' 

"Mr. Roosevelt is not a stranger to the South. He has made many 
visits to that section of the country, and the southerners have improved 
every occasion to express their admiration for his sterling Americanism 
and for his sturdy and robust style of politics." 

MASTERFUL, RESOURCEFUL, CONSERVATIVE, LIBERAL. 

Bishop Samuel Fallows says : "The President is dead, long live 
the President. The anarchist's bullet pierced the body only of our 
illustrious President, his soul goes marching on in the spirit and life of 
Theodore Roosevelt. 

"Roosevelt is masterful, resourceful, full of the aggressiveness of a 
splendid superabounding volitional nature, and yet capable of holding 
himself in check for the promotion of the public w^eal. He has already 
shown that he has grasped the inner and pregnant meaning of those 
three inscriptions, as Emerson tells us, written on the gates of Busyrane. 
On Ihe first gate was inscribed, 'Be Bold;' on the second gate, 'Be Bold, 
Be Bold and Evermore Be Bold.' But on the third gate were the 
words, 'Be Not Too Bold.' He will both lead and follow. He has 
learned to command by obeying. 

"The American policy of expansion, reciprocity and good will to 
mankind, which are the shining characteristics of McKinley's admin- 
istration, will be exemplified by Roosevelt under unique and striking 
conditions. He stands for no faction, no cramping lines of illiberal 
partyism will confine him. He will consecrate his rich and varied gifts 
to the welfare of the wdiole American people. Business men now see 
his real nature, and fully trust him. His hand wall not send the financial 
thermometer flying wildly up and down. The prayers of all the 
churches fervently ascend to heaven for their youngest, and sure to be 
by the blessing of providence, one of the very strongest of American 
Presidents. He is loyal to his own religious convictions, and yet is 
broad in his sympathies and to the universal church of Christ and the 
devout aspirations of his fellow men." 

GIVES WORD TO NATION. 

Harper's Weekly says : 

The new President begins his administration not only with the 



404 Life of William McKinley 

good will but with the confidence of the country. If his past life had 
not already been a revelation of high character, great abihty, and patri- 
otism, which have won the admiration of hundreds of thousands of his 
fellow-citizens, his bearing during the trying days which have passed 
since the death of Mr. McKinley would have firmly established him in 
their affections. Indeed, there is a ring of manliness in Mr. Roosevelt's 
words and deeds which inspires faith in him. 

During these cruel days of national tragedy and grief his bitterest 
old-time critics — he seems to have no hostile critic for the moment — 
must have felt his admirable bearing in the presence of the awful respon- 
sibility which had been thrust upon him. 

As we saw him emerging from the car in which he had retired from 
view as he rode across the state to take upon himself the burden dropped 
by the murdered President he seemed a man who had already risen to the 
occasion, and every word and act of his spoken or done since he took 
the oath of office have confirmed this first impression. 

To a waiting and anxious country he said that it would be his "aim 
to continue, absolutely unbroken, the policy of President McKinley for 
the peace, the prosperity, and the honor of our beloved country." This 
was enough, for no one doubts the word of Theodore Roosevelt. But 
since then every one of his ofificial acts, one of them at least being of the 
first importance and of great significance, have been in harmony with this 
promise. The McKinley Cabinet is to remain, and this is a renewal of 
the assurance given in the parlor of the Wilcox house at BufTaIo„ 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Anarchy. 
Its Origin, Purposes and Results. 

The word anarchy comes from the Greek term anarkos, without head 
or chief, and its j^rimary definition in Enghsh nomenclature is: "The 
absence of government; the state of society where there is no kiw or 
supreme power; a state of lawlessness, hence confusion, disorder." 

That the theories which are advocated by anarchists are correctly 
named is constantly shown by the inability of any two of them to agree 
even upon the same definition. 

When at the World's Congress Auxiliary in Chicago, an interna- 
tional congress of anarchists was held, a proposition was made that for 
the information of the people and the furtherance of their work, a docu- 
ment should be drawn up stating just what their belief is, and what its 
advocates are trying to accomplish. The confusion resulting from this 
effort to systemize their teachings nearly broke up the congress, for it 
was found that each delegate present had his own idea of what anarchy 
really is, and that no definition given could be satisfactory to more than 
one or two. Anarchists are always found in small groups, held very 
loosely together, and small as the several groups may be, they are always 
much more likely to subdivide than to consolidate. The only things 
upon which they seem to agree is the doctrine that there is no God, and 
no moral government in the world, — that all rulers should be stricken 
down by the red hand of the assassin, all legal codes rendered inopera- 
tive and universal chaos should prevail — a condition seems to be con- 
sidered ideal in which every man may be for himself, and brute strength 
shall be the basis of superiority. 

\\dien Johnnn Most, the typical representative of the cult, was in 
Chicago, he declared in German that the first thing anarchists had to 
do was to "destroy every altar, to extinguish every religion, to tear down 
God from the heavens." "What right," he asked, "would any man 
have to govern another unless God gave him that right? Down ivitJi 
God"! 

In this declaration he was only the echo of Karl Marx and others. 
The assassin of President McKinlev. like his teacher, Emma Goldman, 



4o6 Life of William McKinley 

and her coadjutors, has been blatant in declaring that he had "no use 
for Gvd." Truly: "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." 

The detinitiun of anarchy, then, may be covered by the words law- 
lessness and atheism. 

The theory uf anarchy is not new; it is as old as the middle ages, 
and it was gravely discussed by learned pessimists five centuries ago. 
As a practice it was first taught in France, but the German propagandists 
soon followed. In both countries it caught the attention, and then 
secured the endorsement of the unthinking and emotional masses, to 
whom it was made to appear as tlie remedy for the real or supposed mis- 
takes of the government. It was then, as now, ably argued by leaders 
who were capable of better things — men who turned their talents and 
their learning towards the destruction of society instead of its upbuild- 
ing, and we are still reaping the bitter fruit of their teachings. One 
generation after another has caught up their mistaken ideas, and sent 
them broadcast upon their mission of massacre. 

Anarchy in its modern form is founded upon the teaching of Karl 
Marx and his followers, and it aims directly at the destruction of all 
forms of society, religion and government. It offers no solution of the 
problems of humanity — no hope beyond the grave, or even on this side 
of it — no recognition of the conditions which must obtain if they should 
succeed in destroying society, but it contents itself with declaring that 
the present duty is tearing down, and the work of building up, if it comes 
at all, must come later. 

It was in London that speculative anarchy was largely cultivated by 
men who had been expelled from Germany, and from there much of its 
results have perhaps been directed, but the attention of these men was 
largely given to the work of fomenting discontent upon the continent 
of Europe. 

The anarchy which is found in America is only one phase of the gen- 
eral conspiracy against all governments. It is not that form which ob- 
tained under Napoleon, and which brought about the reign of terror. 
It is not the nihilism of Russia, nor the doctrines which were taught in 
France, and still it is closely akin to them all. 

It comes to us largely from Germany, and represents the features 
of the German school. It is true that despotism and oppression have 
sometimes been the cause of revolt in the Old AA^irld, but no such excuse 
is found in America — anarchism upon our soil is a weed which should 
be uprooted and thrown out. The only rational cause of discontent 
here is found in the avarice which is never satisfied, but, like "the horse 
leech and her two daughters," ever cries for more — which is ever wrap- 
ping within its greedy folds all smaller methods of business and destroy- 



Our Martyred President 407 

ing all competition, which is the very life of trade. This trouble is not 
contincd to our shores; it is fast becoming world-wide, but this and all 
others should be met with legitimate effort along constitutional lines. 
Nothing can be gained by violence which is directed against the head 
of the state. 

The anarchists outrun all social democrats. They refuse to have 
anything to do with any politics but revolution, and with any revolution 
but a violent one, and they think the one means of producing revolution 
now or at any future time is simply to keep exciting disorder or cla.;s 
hatred, assassinating state officers, setting fire to buildings and paralyz- 
ing the bourgeoise with fear. 

\\'ith the great revolt of the common people which has some time 
resulted from oppression we have nothing to do. It is the policy which 
aims at the destruction of all the sacred institutions of home and coun- 
try, and which culminates in the treacherous hand of murder. It is 
this with which America has to deal — the Judas principle which, luider 
the cover of a cordial hand-clasp given by our Chief Executive, will send 
the fatal bullet to his heart. 

We must beware of including the American socialism which seeks 
to better the conditions of the masses with the anarchy which aims at 
the destruction of society, and still there are certain forms of what 
Europe calls socialism, from the results of which every civilized govern- 
ment is now suffering. 

The purpose of anarchy is becoming only too apparent in various 
parts of the world. 

In pursuit of their avowed purpose to "extinguish every religion," 
they would, if possible, destroy all the God-given liberties of humanity 
and set up a despotism more terrible than the Dark Ages ever knew. 
The results upon a merely human scale would be much the same as would 
result in the whole universe, had they the power to tear the sun from 
its orbit and wrest every planet from its course, allowing each star 
to pursue its erratic way at random through the fatal coiln-se of anarchy 
and confusion. 

The anarchist assassin wages war upon all society by striking at 
whoever mav be the political chief of the country in which he has found 
freedom and protection. His violent and unreasoning hate is im- 
personal, he seeks to destroy whoever and whatever represents law and 
order, whether it is a despot or a beneficent ruler. 

All equitable systems of jurisprudence are based upon divine law. 
P.lackstone says: "An enactment is not a /otc when it violates a law 
nf r.od." The anarchists have therefore logically begun at the begin- 
ning, and aim at the destruction of all the legal codes of the civilized 



4o8 Life of William McKinley 

world by destroying, if possible every sentiment of reverence tor divine 
aw. Its avowed purpose is the murder of all who represent the hand of 
legislation. "Extirpate the miserable bruod, extirpate the wretches'" 

IS the published demand of one of the prominent leaders of the cult 
and m pursuance of his purpose he publishes explicit directions for 
niakmg bombs and putting them in |,ublic places where as many per- 
sons may be reached as possible by either death or hopeless mutilation. 
He publishes a dictionary of poisons and gives explicit directions for 
getting them, mto the food of government officials and other public 
nien. _ 1 h,s is not the criminal tendency of one man— not the vagaries 
of an mdindual to whom we have charitably applied the term ^lunatic," 
It IS the official utterance of the murderous cult which now assails all 
law and threatens all public men. 

The anarchist congress of Geneva in 1882 issued a manifesto, which 
began thus: 

"Our enemy, it is our master. Anarchists-that is to say, men 

withou chiefs-we fight against all who are invested or wish to invest 

hemselves w,th any kind of power whatsoever. Our enemy is 

he andlord who owns the soil and makes the peasant drudge 

for his P'-ofit. Our enemy is the emj.loyer who owns the work- 

hi;.!l , ;' ""'"^ wage-serfs. Our enemy is the state, mon- 

aichical, oligarchic, democratic, working class, with its functionaries and 

Its services of officers, magistrates and police. Our enemy is every 

abstract authority, whether called Devil or Good God, in the name of 

which priests have so long governed good souls. Our enemy is the 

law always made for the oppression of the weak by the strong and 

tor the justification and consecration of crime " t,- 

A meeting of 600 anarchists-chiefly Germans and Austrians, but 
incluc ing also many others-was held at Paris on April 20 1884 and 
passed a resolution urgently recommending the extirpation of princes 
capitalists and parsons by means of "the propaganda oi the deed " 

theTnl'nnr''1 "' ^'"^^"" "^ ^^^^' ''^'''^' ^°"^l^t t° re-establish 

the mei national on purely anarchist lines, adopted a declaration of 
principles, containing among other things the followino-- 

Tt IS a matter of strict necessity to make all possible efforts to prop- 
agate by deeds the revolutionary idea and the spirit of revolt amoi o- 
ha great section of the mass of the people whicli as yet takes no p"^ 
u the movement, and -entertains illusions about the moralitv and 
efficacy of egal means. In quitting the legal ground on which we 
ave genera ly remained hitherto, in order to carry our action into the 
domam of illegality, which is the only way leading to revolution it is 
necessary to have recourse to means which are in conformity with that 



Our Martyred President 409 

end. * * * The congress recommends organizations and individ- 
uals constituting part of the international Working Men's Association 
to give great weight to the study of the technical and chemical sciences 
as a means of defense and attack." 

The object of this violence is partly, as we see from the above (|uo- 
tation, to infiame the spirit of revolt and disorder in the working classes; 
and it is partly to terrorize the bourgeoisie, so that they may yield in 
pure panic all they possess. But for its expressly violent policy, anarch- 
ism would be at least formidable or offensive manifestation of contem- 
porary socialism. For, in the first place, its specific doctrine is one 
which it is really difficult to get the most ordinary common sense puz- 
zled into accepting. Men in their better mind may be ready enough 
to listen to specious, or even not very specious, schemes of reform that 
hold out a promise of extirpating misery, and in their worst mind they 
may be (luite as prone to think that if everybody had his own, there 
would be fewer rich; but they are not likely to believe we can get on 
without law or government. Even the vainest will feel that however 
superfluous these institutions may be for themselves, they are still un- 
happily indispensable for some of their neighbors. 

The results of this fatal teaching have left many a crimson stain 
upon two continents. 

NOTABLE ASSASSINATIONS AND ATTEMPTS DURING THE NINETEENTH 

CENTURY. 

George III. of England, attempt by Margaret Nicholson on August 2, 

1786, and by James Hatfield on May 15, 1800. 
Napoleon I. of France, attempt by use of an infernal machine on De- 
cember 24, 1800. 
Czar Paul of Russia, killed by nobles of h.is court on March 24, 1801. 
Spencer Pcrcival, premier of England, killed by Bellingham on May 11, 

1812. 
George IV. of England, attempt on January 28, 181 7. 
August Kotzebue of Germany, killed by Earl Sand for political motives 

on March 23, 18 19. 
Charles due de Berri, killed on February 13, 1820. 
Andrew^ Jackson, president of the United States, attempt on Jannary 

30, 1835. 
Louis Philippe of France, six attempts: By Fieschi, on July 28, 1835; 

by Alibaud, on June 25, 1836; by Miunier, on December 2y, 1836; 

by Darmos. on October 16, 1840; by Lecompte, on April 14, 1846; 

by Henry, on July 19, 1846. 
Denis Aff re, archbishop of Paris, on June 27, 1848. 



mHtov*^ 



4IO Life of William McKinley 

Rossi, Comte Pellegrino, Roman statesman, on November 15, 1848. 

I'^rederick William IV. of Prussia, attempt by Sofelage on May 22, 1850. 

Francis Joseph of Austria, attempt by Libenyi, on February 18, 1853. 

Ferdinand, Charles III., Duke of Parma, on March 27, 1854. 

Isabella II. of Spain, attempts by La Riva on May 4, 1847; ^^y Merino 
on February 2, 1852; by Raymond Fuentes on May 28, 1856. 

Napoleon III., attempts by Pianori on April 28, 1855; ^^Y Bellemarre on 
September 8, 1855; ^Y Orsini and others (France) on January 14, 
1858. _ 

Daniel, Prince of Montenegro, on August 13, i860. 

Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, at Ford's Theater, 
Washington, by John Wilkes Booth, on the evening of April 14; 
died on April 15, 1865. 

Michael, Prince of Servia, on June 10, 1868. 

George Darboy, archbishop of Paris, by communists, on May 24, 1871. 

Richard, Earl of Mayo, governor general of India, by Shere Ali, a con- 
vict, in Andaman Islands, on February 8, 1872. 

Amadeus, Duke of Aosta, when King of Spain, attempt on July 19, 1872. 

Prince Bismarck, attempt by Blind on May 7, 1866; by Kullman on 
July 13, 1874. 

Abdul Aziz, Sultan of Turkey, on June 4, 1876. 

Hussein Avni and other Turkish ministers, by Hassan, a Circassian 
officer, on June 15, 1876. 

William I. of Prussia and Germany, attempts by Oscar Becker on July 
14, 1861 ; by Flodel on May 11, 1878; by Dr. Nobiling on June 2, 
1878. 

Mehemit Ali, pasha, by Albanians on September 7, 1878. 

Lord Lytton, viceroy of India, attempt by Busa on December 12, 1878. 

Alfonso XII. of Spain, attempts by J. O. Moncasi on October 25, 1878; 
by Francisco Otero Gonzalez on December 30, 1879. 

Loris Melikoff, Russian general, attempt on March 4. 1880. 

Bratiano, premier of Roumania, attempt by J. Pietraro on December 14, 
1880. 

Alexander II. of Russia, attempts by Karakozow at St. Petersburg on 
April 16, 1866; by Berozowski at Paris on June 6, 1867; on April 
14, 1879, Salovieff shot at the emperor of all the Russias in the 
streets of St. Petersburg, but without effect, though the assailant 
was punished for his crime. In the same year the royal train was 
wrecked by dynamite, 'but again the czar escaped. On Februarv 
17, 1880, the dinino--room of the winter palace was wrecked by a 
terrific explosion, but the czar had not yet entered the room, as 
the anarchists supposed. Ten soldiers of the guard were destroyed 



Our Martyred President 411 

in this dastardly attempt upon the hfe of the emperor. The fiml 

March 13 1881 when the bomb thrown by Ryaskoff missed the 

mark and mimediately another was thrown by Eh.ikoff, which 

killed the emperor and also the murderer 
James A. Garfield, president of the United States, shot by Charles T 

Guiteau on July 2, 1881. ^^^^ J- 

Mayor Carter H. Harrison of Chicago, shot by Prendergast on October 

2«, 1893. 

lAIarie Francois Carnot, president of France, stabbed mortally at Lyons 
by Cesare Santo, an anarchist, on Sunday, June 24 1894 

Stanislaus Stambuloff, ex-premier of Bulgaria, killed by four persons 
armed with revolvers and knives, on July 25, 1895. 

Nasr-ed-din, shah of Persia, was assassinated on May' i 1896 as he 

was entering a shrine near his palace. The man who shot him 

was disguised as a woman and is believed to have been the tool of 

• a band of conspirators. He was caught and suffered the most 

horrible death that Persian ingenuity could invent. 

Prim, marshal of Spain, on December 28; died on December 30 1870 " 

Antonio Canovas del Castillo, prime minister of Spain, shot to death by 
Michel Angolillo, alias Colli, an Italian anarchist, at Santa Agueda 
Spain, while going to the baths, on August 8, 1897. 

Juan Idiarte Borda, ])resident of Uruguay, killed on August 25 1897 at 
Montevideo by Avelino Areedondo, officer in Uruguayan army.' 

President Diaz, attempt in the City of Mexico by M. Arnulfo on Sep- 
tember 20, 1897. 

Jose Maria Reyna Barrios, president of Guatemala, killed at Guatemala 
City on February 8, 1898, by Oscar Solinger. 

Empress Elizabeth of Austria, brilliant, beautiful and well beloved, 
stal)bed by Luchini, a French-Italian anarchist, at Geneva, Switzer- 
land, on September 10, 1898. 

William Goebel, democratic claimant to the governorship of Kentucky, 
shot by a person unknown on Tuesday, January 30, 1900, while on 
his way to the state capital in Frankfort, Ky. 

Humbert, king of Italy, shot to death on July 29, 1900, at Monza, Italv. 
by Angelo Bresci. 

Albert Edward, then Prince of Wales, now king of England, attempt 
by Brussels anarchist on April 4, 1900. 

William McKinley, president of the United States, shot at Buffalo on 
September 6, 1901. Died September 14, 1901. 

Unfortunately, this is not the first appearance of the cult on Amer- 

26 



4^2 Life of William McKinley 

wiU, othe,-s. and oXe hi^^ 13, T" '• W " '"™^' ^T'I^" ^'°"''' 
Fielden, and tliis was evide"«y t s I'l wl i 1 Y" Ff^'''^''"' ^"'""'«' 
for at that instant a min 2/ ^ '*'"' '"=<=" ^e'''=«' "1»". 

threw it into tiff ra^,,^.''"V Cp i^el^f '1^^ "^^'""J f, '^™"'' =""' 
fusilade of si,ots from both sides Witn I , ,"'' *°"""'=^' '">' =' 
been restored it was found tl,at Office M r 'n '"^ f, °"'"" '"^' 

^^tr^rs-^-S^ri ^^'^-- ™ :::.X.^"!:f: 

others were se^U ^d^f eSlC'^-'^^X:^"-; ^ ^r " ?,"' ""T 

t..e/w:;ih:'i:irate:'d^r:::™i:f;:':r.;'^^^^ 

back to their old haunts and 1ip1,1 „, ^' ' ^''^ 'Anarchists went 

doors of the saioons ^^::\^r::z:z'^^:i::::^x:,:--^ 
ana:^l;r,J:eir;;:;:;;:,:™:.:;;\;-\>- «- ^-^ i;::;^ of 

object. Rooted in a tlieory whic en ies t ^ " ""' °* "' "™"^'' 
tl>ey ignore the fact that ™n u t a , w lol?' "'''''?'' °^ <^°''' 
the In-gher principles of law and o re L;',,:,!:?'™","'^-'' ""' 
their own brutal passions-the helple^ virt n,? f ' '"='™' "^ 

trolled and vicious' impulses. How tr ly • Lv " 7'- """"' 

twity to the law of sin which is in their iLmbe,'!"?^ '™"^'" '"'° ^'^"- 

the dangerous class is not the illiterate. The leiders of fhi i 
lessness are often tliose who have been trained i^, ' '*■'"'■ 

but from lack of conscience and n'o aTcultuel > ' ""' '"="""■ 

society. Secular education alon 1 t^^o 7' ■'^""'V'' '™™« '" 
^■eIopment: it is the brilliant and acct.rfisl.ed t II ' ";" "'""'"' "'- 
the great wrongs upon Inurtanity ; tl e^eop le are c^h/'m ''7'"'"''' 
..an,pulators of the markets and^^'ot by T Jt y"tl efef ' "" "'''' 

theIo:e^tr:1hrscrn:^:^vt"^^'"^' '-- ^■'"■■^- --■ - 

the white man. but disloy^ul ^0^0;: ff'' iZ^'^^^-^^^' "^ *'- f^'*-^ "< 
Herbert Spencer says that: "The discipline of science is superior 



Our Martyred President 4^3 

to that of our ordinary education because of the reHgious culture which 
it gives;" but we now have a cult who have degraded the lessons of 
>cience until it has become the act of murder. The leaders are now 
admonishing their followers to study the methods of wholesale destruc- 
tion and apply the information thus obtained to the art of making 
bomlj and infernal machines which shall do their work quickly and 
clTcctually. Following the assassination of Carnot, Most preached the 
doctrine of scientific murder in the following language: 

"•W'hosover wants to undertake an assassination should at first learn 
to use the weapon with which he desires to accomplish his purpose before 
he brings that weapon definitely into play. Attempts by means of the 
revolver are utterly played out, because of twenty-five attempts only one 
is successful, as experience has thoroughly shown. Only expert dead 
shots may thoroughly rely on their ability to kill. No more child's 
play! Serious labor f Long live the torch and bomb!" 

Their admonitions also come from other sources and they are being 
carefully followed out. They show how greatly the destroying spirit 
has developed since the French revolution, when twenty-eight chemists 
were taken to the guillotine together. Lavoisier pleaded in vain for a 
few minutes which might enable him to finish an important expermient, 
and produce results which he hoped might be of immense value to the 
scientific world. But even this was denied him and he was hurried 
away to execution with the cry : "We have no need of science ; we have 
no need of savants." Now, however, they have ''need of science" m 
order to the more perfectly execute their carefully laid plans. 

Surely these are purposes and results which call for stringent meas- 
ures and 'the public is now waking up to the fearful responsibility resting 
upon it Governments, too, are becoming more watchful concerning the 
niovements of the common enemy. The doctrine of the bomb and the 
dao-o-er has found its way into the capitals of all countries, while even 
the villao-es and country places are not exempt, but when a man or a 
woman s'tands out boldly to advocate the cause of murder, the name of 
the criminal is placed in the lists of the secret service headquarters of a 
dozen countries. The photographs are filed as in the rogue s gallery 
of the police departments and all friends and associates of the party are 
marked as dangerous characters. His habits of life are tabulated and 
his goings and comings are under the eye of some officer of the service. 
The United States government at Washington has a list of the names 
and also the photographs of all the known anarchists of the world, and 
the members of the cult are under surveillance in all civilized countries. 
France has been especially active in this scrutiny: the government 
has a detective svstem which is nearly perfect and it is almost impossible 



4H Life of William McKinley^ 

for a meeting to be held upon Fre?icli soil without official spies being 
among the audience. 

In Russia both the police and military arms keep watch upon sus- 
pects, detectives move everywhere among those where discontent is sun- 
posed to be fomenting. 

London has for many years been a hot bed of anarchist scheming 
but even there the system of espionage is carefully maintained and when 
tlie doctrine of massacre is propagated the speakers are noted by the 
officers It IS true that too much inflammatory speech-making is 
allowed, but the movements of dangerous characters are closely fol- 
lowed. •' 

The people and the loyal press, the pulpit, the lawmakers and the 
government Itself are a unit with the whole civilized world concerning 
the duty which hes at our doors. Surveillance is not sufficient for the 
sporadic teaching of destruction is liable to develop anywhere and at 
any time a new assassin who is unknown to the police and who now per- 
haps tor the hrst time becomes a criminal. Moreover, when a -reat 
crime has been committed their loose organizations are easily scattered 
and It is nearly impossible to trace their relationship with the deed in 
lines sufficiently definite to secure punishment. 

In the columns of his journal, which is the avowed advocate of the 
bomb. Most says : As a rule never more than one anarchist should take 
charge of the attempt, so that in case of discovery the anarchist party 
may suffer as little as possible." ^ 

.in,7''f ^ili^ed world should act at once and together for the suppres- 
sion ot the whole dangerous doctrine. 

The consensus of opinion seems to be that one of the tropical islands 
should be devoted to the use of anarchists. The innocent natives should 
be bought out and provided with other homes and then the island should 
be given over to those who object to all forms of government This 
suggestion comes simultaneously from all parts of the country and from 
the ranks of the most intelligent economists. There could be no cruelty 
in giving them an opportunity to practice their own methods and live 
mdependently of law. They could see the workings of their own theory, 

wolld t r . r . Y the survival of the strongest, but civilization 
would at least be sa e from their depredations, and the young people of 
Amei-ica would be delivered from the poison of their teaclincrs 
the United'^? P^^each anarchy and the destruction of law\ave come to 

t3s n.eV" .1 I^^^^^«" "\t^-- native land. Under these circum- 
stances the least they can do is to live thankfully under the flag which 



Our Martyred President 4^5 

whether wisely or not, has given them a refuge. If, then, they cannot 
Hve under the Stars and Stripes without a constant vihfication of the 
principles which these glorious colors represent, if they are so utterly 
destitute of moral development that they cannot appreciate American 
liberty and culture, they should at once leave a soil which has been found 
so uncongenial. Not only this, but the government should see to it 
that they go at once and provide them with free transportation to some 
spot where they may easily make a living by working for it, and where 
they will be entirely unhampered by the laws which they despise. 

The sturdy young republic has been too generous with her invitations 
to the down-trodden of the Old World. She has received multitudes of 
their poor and maimed, their destitute and comparatively helpless. She 
has given them homes and lands, she has furnished them with means 
to earn their daily bread and has freely educated their children. She 
has made herself cosmopolitan for their sakes, and many c5 them, per- 
haps the most, have repaid her hospitality by making good citizens under 
her care and protection. 

But too many of them have come to us with no honest intent — too 
many of them are like the newcomer who, when he was asked how he 
was going to vote, answered: "Oh, I don't know. But I'm apjn the 
government." This was his only political creed and was the full extent 
of his political knowledge. 

America has been too generous in placing the ballot m the hands 
of foreigners who were ignorant of all science of government and en- 
tirely incapable of appreciating our institutions. Surely it is high time 
that our suffrage laws were revised, and an interval of ten years or 
more be given for the emigrant to become acquainted with the science 
of crovernment before the ballot, the token of American sovereignty, be 
criven him The stranger in a strange land should not be permitted to 
fay his untutored hand upon the sacred helm that guides the great ship 

of state. . , , ^ 1 ^ 

Surely our emigration laws should be revised and measures taken 
to prevent the incoming of the vicious and depraved from both Europe 
and Asia Those who have provoked the hostility of the police in the 
cities of Europe are very apt to seek refuge upon our shores and then 
avail themselves of the great freedom here found for the propagation 
of their poisonous doctrines. The European officials as a rule are so glad 
to cret rid of them that when they come no information is sent concern- 
ing%heir characters, lest they be returned to them, hence the United 
States must learn to protect herself. Palliative measures and educational 
influences having been found ineffectual, it is apparent that he on y 
practical method' is the complete elimination of the cancer from the body 



» jiij f i m j M m 



41 6 Life of William McKinley 

politic, and the proposition to effect complete, although humane, banish- 
ment is meeting with wide and enthusiastic approval. 

It is a source of gratitude on the part of the American people that 
although the serpent of anarchy has found food and shelter among us, 
it is not a product of our soil. It is much for which to be thankful that 
in all its hideous forms it wears a foreign garb and bears a foreign 
name. It was not an American who struck the coward blow which 
brought tears to the whole civilized world. 

Not only is it necessary to cleanse tlie country as far as possible of 
anarchist teachers, to revise the emigration laws in such a way as to 
prevent free access of the vicious to our shores, and to revise our suf- 
frage laws so that the government itself may never be given into the 
hands of the untutored foreigner, but it is absolutely necessary that 
measures be taken for the protection of the President of the United 
States. He should have greater care, if possible, than a European 
ruler, for his death might at any time involve far greater changes. The 
death of a king or queen seldom affects the policy of the state, but a 
change of administration in America might result in a sudden reversal 
of public policy and complete defeat of the will of the people who have 
voted for certain principles. 

The President of the United States, while he holds his high and 
sacred office, is the greatest ruler upon earth and he should be the most 
carefully guarded. 

That the people are now fully awake to this common foe will be 
shown by the following opinions which have been publicly expressed, 
and which are in full accord with the sentiment of the whole civilized 
world. 



The following persons have expressed their views on anarchy in 
unmistakable language : 

ATHEISM. 

Senator John P. Dolliver, of Iowa. 

"The fatal word in the creed of anarchy is 'atheism.' Until that 
word is spoken, until all sense of the moral government of the universe 
and the spiritual significance of human life is lost, it is impossible to con- 
ceive, much less to execute, this malignant propaganda against the rights 
of mankind. No man who brings nothing with him except a blind faith 
in natural laws, which nobody made and nobody administers, wdll ever 
find a permanent discipleship in a world like this. It is their misfortune 
that their works have had the most influence among those who have been 
least able to understand them. 



Our Martyred President 417 

"The creed of anarchy rebels against the state, and with infinite folly 
proposes that every man should be a law unto himself.. It is more mis- 
chievous because more pretentious than the common levels of crime, for 
without disdaining the weapons of the ruffian it does not hesitate to seek 
shelter under the respectability that belongs to the student and the re- 
former. 

HOME ALSO IN DANGER. 

"The creed of anarchy despises the obligations of the marriage con- 
tract, impeaches the integrity of domestic life, enters into the homes of 
the people to pull down their altars and subject the family relation, which 
is the chief bond of society, to the caprices of the loafer and the libertine. 
In all these things it has an alliance implied if not expressed, with every 
variation of that rotten public opinion which in many American states 
has turned the court of equity into a daily scene of perjury and treason 
against the hearthstones of the community, a treason so flagrant that a 
year ago, for the accommodation of a single man, the legislature of 
I'dorida 'was induced to descend below the level of all paganisms and all 
barbarisms 1)y so amending the laws of divorce as to permit a winter resi- 
dent to legally desert the wife of his youth, not on account of any fault 
of hers, but because of the pathetic burdens which she bore. 

"I count it of infinite value to every decent form of civilization that 
against this background of unworthy living, from the front porch of a 
little cottage covered with vines, yonder at Canton, the outline sketch of 
two lives has been thrown, so beautiful in their loyalty to one another 
that good men everywhere stand in silence before it, wdiile the woman- 
hood of the world, seeing the knightliness of love which alters not, draw 
near, from stations high and low, to salute the picture wdth the benedic- 
tion of their tears. 

THE BILL OF RIGHTS. 

"The bill of rights, written in the English language, stands for too 
many centuries of sacrifice, too many battlefields sanctified by blood, too 
many hopes of mankind, reaching toward the ages to come, to be mu- 
tilated in the least in order to meet the case of a handful of miscreants 
whose names nobody can pronqunce. Whether the secret of this ghastly 
atrocity rests in the keeping of one man or many we may never know, but 
if the President w^as picked out by hidden councils for the fate which over- 
took him, there is a mournful satisfaction in the fact that in his life, as 
well as in his death, he represented American manhood at its best. 

******* 

"It has come to look more rational to me that if William McKinley's 



41 8 Life of William McKinlcy 

assassination was indeed an incident of the standing challenge of atheism 
against the peace and order of society, it could n«)t, now that Gladstone 
is no more, have chosen a sacrifice more tit to illustrate the nobility of 
human character, nurtured in the fear of God and trained from infancy in 
the law of Christ." 

WE MUST THROTTLE ANARCHY. 

Governor Richard Yates. 

"There is every reason U> believe that he was commissioned to com- 
mit the crime. Whether he has admitted anything or not, his act was so 
cowardly, cruel and cunning that it is inexcusable except on the infamous 
theory that all heads of government must be destroyed and all civilization 
subverted. It cannot be denied that all his conduct is based upon anarch- 
istic doctrine. He will i)ay the ])enalty of his crime. He will give up his 
life. But that matters not to him. He expected as much. He has. fnmT 
the standard of the anarchist, achieved a grand and brilliant success. His 
example will be folluwed if ])ossible. 

"Civilization must do all it can to make it impiissible. Anarchy must 
be made infamous, with prevention as sure as punishment. All teaching 
and inciting of murder and murderous doctrines should be and now will 
be jiunishable with death. If our laws arc not sufficiently stringent we 
will make them so." 

RED HANDED ANARCHY MUST BE SUPPRESSED. 

Kt. Rev. Samuel Fallow-. 

"There is a species of theoretical or philosophical anarchy which is 
comparatively harmless. It means that all existing forms of govern- 
ment are imperfect and slKnild be supplanted by individual liberty, car- 
ried to its extremest logical conclusion. 

"But there is a red-handed anarchy which finds expression in the lan- 
guage of one of its representative advocates : 

" T am an enemy of everything and everybody, and I am proud of it. 
Killing, a ruler makes people think. We want to exterminate evils by 
force. We never consider consequences. We are opposed to govern- 
ment which means political tyranny. We do not believe in religion, laws 
or individual ownership of property.' ', 

"The flag of anarchy is. therefcu'e. the llag of atheism. Anarchists 
are without God and without respect for the laws of God or human soci- 
ety. Thev believe in assassiiiation and murder, to carry out their ends 
their weapons are poison, the dagger, the pistol, the bomb. 



Our Martyred President 419 

CULT OF AXXIIIILATION. 

"Their cult is one of disorder and annihilation. They have neither 
shame nur conscience. Shall such anarchy be allowed to Nourish within 
our bounds? Would its repression be inconsistent with the principle 
which we have maintained from the beginning of our national history, 
that a man may hold what opinion he likes and speak as he likes providing 
he commits no overt act against the law ? 

*"\V'e cannot too jealously and sedulously guard the reasonable free- 
(loin of the i)ress and freedom of speech. But self-preservation is the 
first law of nature. The preaching and teaching of murder leads to mur- 
der. 

"The assas>in i>i ['resident McKinley is the abnormal graduate of the 
school of i'-mma (ioldman and her kind. Clearly we have the right and 
it is our st-Icmu duty to suppress to the fullest extent the murderous 
utterances of these atrocious creatures. 

"i'hey should Ik.* prohibited from meeting together to discuss their 
plots and conspiracies against government and the lives of the constituted 
autlmrilies. 'i'he United States mails must be closed against their per- 
nicious literature. Those anarchists among us who remain defiant must 
citlicr 1)C confined or else deported from our shores. 

SHOULU BI-: BANISriED. 

"They are the enemies of all civilization and should, by the concerted 
action of the civilized world, be passed on to the wilds of primitive sav- 
agery and learn by bitter experience the tender mercies of the barbarians 
they represent. 

"Stringent measures should be adopted against the admission of any 
more European anarchists to our shores. The immigrant desirous of be- 
coming a good .American citizen should always be welcome. No men 
more heart ilv detest Czolgosz and his abominable crime than those who 
have delilK'rately renounced their allegiance to other lands and have taken 
tip their abode lx?neath our flag of liberty. 

"Both the states and the national congress should enact well matured 
\vs to meet the emergency which is upon us. 

"Respect for law must be continually inculcated in tlie home, the 
school and the church. Education is the salvation of our people, but it 
must Ix? an education that recognizes God as the ultimate source of au- 
thority and power." 

NO n.ACE FOR RED FLAGS. 

Mayor David Rose, of Milwaukee. 
"Anarchist, look at this great people bowed in sorrow. Go measure 



420 Life of William McKinley 

the ocean of tears they have shed in the grief your fiendish hand has 
brought upon them. Go fathom the depth of their love for tlieir institu- 
tions, consecrated to the happiness of man and say, 'Are our helhsh minis- 
trations needed here?' 

"No, a miUion times. Go back to the regions of hate, go back to the 
lands where kings reign and tyrants rule. Go back, or by the blood of our 
martyred President we will rise in avenging wrath and wipe you from the 
earth. Monarchies may flourish and fall, but we have no throne to crum- 
ble. By the rectitude of our national conduct we will lead, and by the 
beneficence of our example we will teach, until crowns shall dissolve in the 
melting ]K)t of a higher civilization and the whole world shall bow before 
the liberty of man." 

KO EXCUSE FOR AXARCllY. 

Edgar A. Bancroft. 

"In a republic like ours there is no excuse, no palliation, for contempt 
of law. There is no evil that organized society can abolish that cannot 
surely be abolished lawfully. To meet and prevent such a crime as this 
requires no curtailment of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. 
It only requires a clearer and more constant discrimination of the true 
use from the base up.'" 

NO ROOM FOR ANARCHY. 

Lieutenant Governor Northcott. 

"Anarchy is the highest treason of republics, and the law should 
deal with it with the utmost severity. The strongest penalty should 
be provided for the preaching of the doctrine of murder and destruction. 
The law now makes it a crime to conspire against any particular life, 
and it should be the highest crime to conspire against the life of society." 

ANARCHY SHALL NOT PREVAIL OVER THE LAW. 

General John C. Black. 

"But it is not well with our laws; it is not well with our institutions, 
while we receive and i)rotect those who know no law and who hate our 
mstitutions ; it is not well that the eagle should nurture the viper whose 
only purpose is to sting him to death. Liberty is very dear; hui::an 
rights very sacred, but a president has as much right to fife as an assas- 
shi, and a good citizen should be as free as an anarchist. And our 
highest (hity. here in the awful i^resence of the third victim of our love 
and partiality, while his blood incarnadines our land in its fresh flow. 
here while ^IcKinley's shade points to his gaping wounds and Lincoln 



Our Martyred President 421 

and Garfield are by his side, now while our tears flow for them all, is to 
declare that anarcliy shall not prevail over the law, but that since it has 
challenged the law and vowed the overthrow of our government and the 
death of our chosen servants, it shall perish by the law. 

DEATH FOR ANARCHISTS. 

"It is for us to declare that those who conspire or plan to compass 
the murder of our officers or the destruction of government must depart 
from our midst or die by the law. It is for us to declare that, while the 
republic is the free home of the virtuous exile, it is not and shall not be 
the refuge of the murderer or the abode of law-hating criminals; that 
the government has the right to live without the consent or assistance 
of any person or any other power; that while it guards the mail carrier 
while on duty on his way, and the customs officer at his post, wherever 
they may be, it shall not be deemed, under like conditions, helpless to 
protect its other officers and all its citizens anywhere within our do- 
minion. 

"And if from these sad hours the awakened majesty of American 
law shall assert its full power, then, my countrymen, McKinley will 
not have died in vain. All will be well with the law." 

MUST SUPPRESS ANARCHY. 

Rev. Rufus A. White. 

"It seems to me that it would be a wise precaution to investigate the 
character of all foreigners coming to this country from the old world 
who might possess any revolutionary ideas. In this case it would be 
perfectly projier for each government to exclude immigrants of this 
class altogether. The death of President McKinley will not have been 
in vain if it calls attention to what seems to be a growing disregard for 
law and order on the part of all classes in this country." 

RESOLUTIONS OF THE MARQUETTE CLUB, CHICAGO. 

"That if it is destiny that so dear a martyrdom must needs be to 
startle the American people into a sense of the danger which menaces 
their government, then do we echo the dying words of the president, 
•God's^will be done.' realizing, as never before, that as there is no room 
for imperialism on American soil, neither is there room for anarchy; 
realizing, also, as never before, that human life is only sacred so long 
as' it is human', and that it is not too sacred to make anarchy punishable 

with death. . 

"That we pledge ourselves to this new work of extirpating anarchy 



422 Life of William McKinley 

in the United States, whether it be armed with the assassin's pistol or 

the liar's pen. 'God's will be done.' 

"Henry D. Estabrook^ Chairman. 
"Elbridge Hanecy, 
"Alexander H. Heyman, 
"George E. Wissher, 

Committee. 
RESOLUTIONS OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 1 9. 

"That we call upon the states and the nation to take prompt and 
emphatic legislative steps to deal adequately with the advocates of the 
damnable doctrine which teaches that law and order must be overthrown, 
and which, the world over, openly adopts assassination as the instrument 
of its operation. The anarchist has no place in this country and he 
should be made to understand that he will be dealt with in the same man- 
ner as any other plague or pestilence which threatens the public security." 

ANARCHY AND LYNCHING. 

Theodore B. Thiele, chairman of the vigilance committee of the Ger- 
man Catholic Societies of Illinois, expresses the following sentiments: 

"In these days of great excitement among the American people on 
account of the assassination of the chief executive of the nation, the 
question, 'Who is responsible for the act of the assassin?' receives con- 
siderable attention. Public officials and the mass of the people seem 
to take it for granted that the men and- w^omen w4io profess and believe 
in anarchistic principles and who have made propaganda for them are 
individually responsible for the act committed. 

THE PROMOTION OF LYNCHING. 

"Persons of standing in the community who are as a rule conserva- 
tive in their views on everyday affairs, do not hesitate to proclaim pub- 
licly in favor of unlawful procedure and express their desire to partici- 
pate in the lynching of every one who is known to hold anarchistic views. 
The enormity of the crime and the excitement of the hour may be suffi- 
cient excuse for such expressions, but when our citizens have returned to 
calm reasoning they will admit that the carrying out of their sugges- 
tions would only bring greater shame upon our nation, which already 
feels keenly that its honor has suffered by the act of the assassin. What 
seems to cause general amazement js the fact that in this great countrv 
of ours, in which the law guarantees the greatest possible liberty to 
every individual, anarchy should find so strong a foothold; that any 
person dissatisfied with existing conditions should have so little faith in 



Our Martyred President 423 

the ability and willingness of the people to correct any abuses of official 
power by means of the ballot box as to cause him to resort to the 
assassination of a president. And yet it is plain that anarchism does 
exist and the foul crime which has thrown the nation into mourning is 
a consequence." 

THE SERPENT OF ANARCHY. 

Rt. Rev. Charles Edward Cheney, D. D. 

Above all, God is teaching us that the nation which breaks through 
the hedge of reverence for laiv, cannot escape the serpent of Anarchy. 
What is the plain significance of the fact that unrepealed laws are on 
the statute books of our states and our cities, which no magistrate will 
enforce? What a picture do we present to the world when a mob 
usurps the functions of judge and jury, and men are tortured and 
burned alive by those who will not wait the slower processes of the 
courts ! Can anything give a clearer illustration of the contempt with 
which the sacredness of law has come to be regarded, than the simple 
fact that honest men are driven from their work by mobs that deny 
them the right to earn their bread ? 

We may turn a deaf ear to the voice which warns us. But sooner 
or later the lesson must be learned that no republican government can 
exist without reverence for God, reverence for authority and reverence 
for law. There was a solemn pathos in the reply of Anne of Austria 
to the haughty Richelieu,— "My Lord Cardinal, God does not pay at 
the end of every week, but at the last He pays." 

■ Is there no gleam of light in this awful gloom? Yes, dear friends, 
it is the law of history, as it is the law of God, that every great sacrifice 
means a great blessing. Already it appears. How this sorrow umtes 
this nation! No tenderer sympathy stirs human hearts for the tragic 
death of the President, and the sorrow which has smitten the wife he 
loved with such chivalrous devotion— than among the people whom he 
helped by force of arms to bring back to allegiance to the Union. Nor 
is the mourning of his political opponents less sincere than that of his 
political adherents. Was ever a more touching scene than when at one 
time around the bier in Washington, there bowed m deepest grief, 
Grover Cleveland, whom William ^IcKinley succeeded m his high office, 
and Fitzhugh Lee, once a brave officer in the ranks of the Southern 
tonfederacv and now bv the grace of the great-hearted dead, a major 
general of the armies of the United States. A3 the nation gathers at 
this bloodv grave, it is one and indivisible in its sorrow. 

T et us^^loreover thank God if, even at such a fearful cost, the eyes 
of the \merican people are at last being opened to the peril of admit- 



424 Life of William McKinley 

ting the scum of European anarchy to drift unchallenged into our 
country. At last we have reason to believe that such nests of plotters 
against society as that at Patterson, New Jersey, which wrought the 
murder of the King of Italy, shall be forever broken up. Let us hope 
that the enactment and enforcing of righteous law, shall make toleration 
of teachers of crime, like the w-oman by whom the assassin of the Presi- 
dent was trained, as impossible as peace with a den of rattlesnakes. 

ANARCHY THE SECESSION OF THE WILL. 

President M. Woolsey Stryker, D. D. 

"For a God of nations He surely is. The nation is an entity — a real 
and providential unity. It is dealt with under the conditions of time, 
but under the sanctions of those same holy laws whose last results for 
individuals are postponed to an eternal assize. Columbia is no excep- 
tion, nay, rather, it is an especial instance. If with other peoples Pie 
has made evident His way — to chastise, to reclaim, to advance, or to 
abandon — in nowise shall we forego His control and miss His retribu- 
tions or rewards. As a nation we are recalled to the recognition of 
His sovereignty. Our very prosperity has been our danger. We have 
forgotten His absolute right, and that not in enterprise and arms, not 
in fleets and forts, not in gainful affairs, but in devout duty ^and obedi- 
ence to the divine law of human love alone lie and can he security and 
peace. Our worst foes are of our own households and hearts. 'Lest 
we forget !' If we will not take it to heart, and bend our proud knees 
in humble submission and entreaty, then the clocks of this awful Sep- 
tember will have struck in vain. 

"We need a great recall to the truth that God reigns over men ; that 
His authority is not elective; that His laws are immutable; that democ- 
racy is not an end to itself, but a means to general liberty under law, 
and to the freedom wherewith God's control alone makes free ; else lib- 
erty is license, and love is lust, and resistance to one abuse the installa- 
tion of a worse. For what is anarchy at last but that secession of the 
will in which self-autonomy becomes universal willfulness? Atheism 
is its spirit and creed, passion and pride its incarnation, and Byron's 
'Dream' the issue ! 

"Sin is 'lawlessness' — the resentment against any control of mart 
or God." 

ANARCHY THE LAW OF THE W^OLF. 

Address of Hon. George R. Peck before the United States Circuit 
Court of Appeals, Chicago, October i, 1901. 



Our Martyred President 425 

After paying a glowing tribute to President McKinley, Mr. Peck 
said : 

"Anarchy is the law of the wolf. We meet it, even in such a crisis, 
w^th the law of love, which in its last analysis is the law of eternal jus- 
tice. The wretch who did that fatal and perfidious deed had, in spite 
of himself, the safeguards which he despised. In that memorable trial 
the institutions of a free government rose to their highest, so that all 
the world might see the majesty of a people governing themselves. 

HOW TO STAMP OUT ANARCHY. 

"But should not anarchy be stamped out? Yes; but after Russia, 
Germany and Italy have tried it, I doubt the efficacy of mere force. 
Let the laws be strengthened for the actual offender so that his punish- 
ment shall follow fast upon the offense. Let laws be passed which 
make it certain that free speech and a free press do not authorize an 
accessorial connection with murder. Let there be laws which shall 
specially protect those in authority — executive, legislative and judicial 
—for these are the nerves of the body politic. Let immigration be 
kept within bounds, and let there be a quarantine against moral as well 
as physical disease. 

"Anarchy is an alien growth, a miserable doctrine foreign to our 
habits of thought and foreign to the essential genius of our institutions. 
It is a very shallow creed, and the wonder is that it should have follow- 
ers anywhere. And yet the true cure is not in repressive laws, but in 
education, in enlightenment and in the cultivation of patriotic instincts. 

"Institutions remain, and will remain, whether a McKinley or a 
Roosevelt holds the rudder. And so we know, as the blind believers 
in assassination must now most surely know, that organized society and 
government cannot depend upon a single life. I speak not only as a 
fawyer, but as an American citizen, oppressed with the weight of all 
these grave misgivings. But through the gloom the sun still sends its 
rays. I do not douk that our way will be made plain. As lawyers 
we shall go forward after the old fashion, fighting our small battles 
over smali things, but never doubting that in the ultimate test the Amer- 
ican court is the sure shield and fortress of American rights." 

WHO ARE ANARCHISTS. 

United States Senator J. P. Dolliver. 

"The creed of anarchy rebels against the state, and with infinite folly 
proposes that every man should be a law unto himself. It is more mis- 
chievous because more pretentious than the common levels of crime, for 



426 Life of William McKinley 

without disdaining- the weapons of the ruffian it does not hesitate to seek 
shelter under the respectabiHty that belongs to the student and the 
reformer. 

"It ought not to be forgotten that these conspirators, working out 
their nefarious plans in secret, in the dens and caves of the earth, enjoy 
an unconscious co-operation and side-partnership with every lawless influ- 
ence which is abroad in the world. Legislators who betray the common- 
wealth, judges who poison the fountains of justice, municipal authorities 
which come to terms with crime — all these are regular contributors to the 
campaign fund of anarchy. 

"That howling mass, whether in Kansas or Alabama, that assembly of 
wild beasts, dancing in drunken carousal about the ashes of some negro 
malefactor, is not contributing to the security of society; it is taking 
away from society the only security it has. It belongs to the unenrolled 
reserve corps of anarchy in the United States. Neither individuals nor 
corporations nor mobs can take the law into their own hands without 
identifying themselves with this more open but hardly less odious attack 
upon the fortress of the social order. The words which came spontane- 
ously to the lips of William McKinley as he sank under mortal wounds 
and saw the infuriated crowd pressing about his assailant ought to be 
repeated in the ears of the officers of the peace from one end of the land 
to the other, in all the years that are to come — 'Let no one hurt him ; let 
the law take its course.' " 

Chicago Coliseum, September 23. 

TIME FOR ACTION. 

The Rev. Thomas E. Mason, assistant rector of Christ Reformed 
Episcopal Church, Chicago: 

"Never before in the history of our nation have we seen so much sor- 
row. It is universal and could not be otherwise, for our honored and be- 
loved President has been slain by the bullet of an anarchist. It is a time 
for earnest prayer, but it is time for something more. It is time for 
action. 

"Anarchy is the avowed '^nemy of all governments, of law and order 
and of righteousness. This, therefore, is the time for united action to 
crush it ere it is too late and another life has been sacrificed. Let our 
government be helped by the power of a united people's demand for the 
passing of laws which will forever put an end to all anarchy and put a 
safety guard on our republic and her beloved presidents. God help us to 
act and act quickly." 



Our Martyred President 427 



MUST STAMP OUT ANARCHY. 



"Tempering every breath of happiness at this reunion is the fearful 
tragedy of last Friday," said General INIanderson. "I do not exaggerate 
when I say that the example set by you for forty years has been one of 
patriotism. You have trained your sons to be sons of Amer- 
ica, to know what it is to uphold the flag of our free institutions. 

"There remains to be trampled under foot an element of our popula- 
tion, countenanced and sustained by an unbridled press, an unprincipled 
rostrum, preaching the gospel of discontent. I can find no words in 
which to fittingly refer to the wretch who has done this thing, but I 
hold him harmless compared with those who prompted such sentiments. 
It is for us and for our sons to stamp out anarchy and socialism as we 
stamped out secession." 

LESSONS TO BE DRAWN. 

Justice David Brewer of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
who was one of the speakers at the First Congregational Church, spoke 
of the popular demand that the anarchists must go. He said m part : 

"What shall we do? Many things are suggested. On every side 
we hear strong language expressive of the public horror at the crime. 
'Anarchists must go ; anarchism must be stamped out.' Some are eager 
to take the law into their own hands and deal out summary justice upon 
all who bear the odious name. They would rejoice to see every anarch- 
ist speedily put to death. 

"Others are demanding that new legislation be enacted, while exec- 
utives and legislators are declaring that in the coming winter they will 
see to it that laws are passed to drive anarchism from our borders, i 
may not discuss the terms of proposed legislation, as noone foresees 
either what it may do or what questions may arise out of it. 

"But there are lessons to be drawn from the assassmation of Presi- 
dent McKinley bv an anarchist which I wish to notice. One which 
should be borne home to every citizen of the nation, whether m or out of 
office, is the necessity of a personal respect for law. We denounce e 
assas;ination as a horrible crime. We denounce ------ -J^\ 

spirit of lawlessness and its followers as outlaws because they look upon 
aU forms of government as wrong and all men in office as their enemies 

"But whtle anarchism may be the extreme of aw essness, a.d 
anarchists the worst of outlaws, every breaking o t^ - ^ -^^^-: 
thouo-h nerhaps in a slight degree, the same spirit of la^^lessness lix 
We is en^^r than precept, and everyone may well remember that he 
Tef something toward checking the spirit 01 lawlessness and prevent- 



428 Life of William McKinley 

ing the spirit of anarchism when, in his own Hfe, he manifests a constant 
and wilhng obedience in letter and spirit to all the mandates of the law. 
''Again, the anarchist declares that all government is wrong. He 
professes to be the enemy of all rulers. Social institutions, as they are, 
he denounces, pleading that they are unjust and oppressive. Now, if 
the workings of the social order are made such as to insure justice and 
peace and comfort to all, slowly the spirit of anarchism will disappear, 
for all will feel that society as it exists is a blessing rather than a curse 
to them, 

WORK MUST BE DONE. 

"And each one of us may in his place and life help to make all those 
workings of society cleaner and better, gentler and purer — more helpful 
to those who need, less burdensome to those who toil and richer in all 
things to all men. 

"If the American people shall not spend all its energies in denuncia- 
tion of this awful crime, or in efforts by force to remove anarchism and 
anarchists from our midst, but, moved and touched by the sad lesson, 
shall strive to fill the social life with more sweetness and blessing, then 
will it be that William McKinley, great in life, will become, partly on 
account of the circumstances of his death, greater and more influential 
in the future ; an enduring blessing to the nation of which he was the 
honored ruler." 

ANARCHY HAS NO GOD. 

Rev. F. W. Gunsaulus, D. D. 

"Anarchy has no God. Anarchy does not believe in government. 
Anarchy treats conscience, truth, justice and holiness as fables and farces. 
You never can have an antidote for the poison of anarchy until you have 
from ocean to ocean faith in God. The situation is not to be relieved 
by the enactment of statutes. Our statutes will be just as power- 
less as our sentiments. The only thing that shall make men sup- 
port a righteous government is the faith that there rules throughout the 
universe a God of eternal righteousness, and that ultimately right will 
conquer wrong. I will be my own judge until I believe that God Al- 
mighty is judge of all the earth. Our courts of justice must seek to do 
His will. One court cannot make a mistake and that court is the court 
of Jehovah. 

"Does any man believe here today that that wretch would have taken 
the Hfe of William McKinley if he had believed in God ? No. What this 
country needs today to take out of anarchy its heart of evil is the presence 
and working of the conviction of Almighty God. When we are willing 
to doubt man's immortality, we doubt America's future. Did the Pilgrim 



Our Martyred President 4^9 

Fathers sail to this land with the helief that tomorrow we die? Was the 
Great Remonstrance written against royal intolerance by men believnig 
that tomorrow we die? Did Abraham Lincoln, when the thunder of 
Gettysburg shook the windows of the capitol at Washington, go and pray 
alone because he believed that tomorrow we die? Was there ever any- 
thino- undertaken, any worthy task finished, that was not finished m the 
presence of the great idea that man is immortal? It is this unending 
destiny of the human soul that gives to the brain a breadth of vision and 
to the heart an abundant faith which presage mighty achievements. 

The opinions of notable foreigners are along the same line. 

THE POPE OF ROME. 

A teleo-ram from Vienna, under date of September 19, says : 
"The Pope addressed the Catholic Bishops on Sunday and declared 
that President McKinley was a victim of the excessive freedom granted to 

the people of the United States." r c ^ 1 o,- 

The Nachrichten, of Bremen, in an editorial under date of September 

17, violently attacks the United States government for what it calls its 

criminal encouragement of anarchists. It says : ■ , , if 

"America is the breeding-ground of state-destroying elements It 

liberal institutions do not permit of the curbing of anarchism or 1 he 

authorities are indifferent to finding means to do so then these liberal 

institutions are a menace to humanity. America should be made to under^ 

. stand that Europe is not willing to countenance the danger any longer. 

America has other duties to mankind than land-grabbmg. 

"President Roosevelt can earn the gratitude of the whole world if 
his first act is the extermination of the anarchists." 

Some of the English papers are also severe upon what they call Amer- 
ican rJency or American carelessness. They claim that although there 
is much talk of measures for repressing the teachings of organized law- 
lessness, much agitation concerning the surveillance and punishment of its 
promoters, still nothing is done. • .^ o dmrn id- 

The Manchester Guardian says : "America has received a sharp ad 
mo Jtion for her boast of 'free speech.' We at least sent to prisoi.^1 e 
creature Most, who is now gloating over the attack upon Presiden Mc 
Khlv Moreover, in England we have a law of treason which would m- 
!;:;e^theLging ^f Czolgosz (whether ^J^^^^^:^^;^^ 
America and France might go so far m protecting their presiaem 
invalidating their republican principles. surveillance 

"The enactment of sterner laws against anarchy ^ ^^ the^trveil 
of its own anarchists is a duty which each country owes to itself. 



430 Life of William McKinley 



FROM LABOUCIIERE. 



In a late issue 'of London Truth, after paying a beautiful tribute to 
President McKinley, Mr. Labouchere remarks that the state clearly has the 
right to silence [\ny propaganda that endangers its own safety, though he 
adds that it may not be expedient to use this right. Society has the un- 
questionable right to stop the preaching of doctrines which aim at the de- 
struction of organized society itself. If there ever should come a time 
when it would be a question whether the anarchists were to destroy society 
or society should destroy the anarchists, the latter would have a short 
shrift. But, as Mr. Labouchere says, that time is far off, and at present any 
measures designed to repress freedom of opinion should be used with the 
greatest caution, for they are apt to have an effect precisely the opposite of 
what is intended. On the other hand, to inculcate the idea of exterminat- 
ing all rulers, or ''even to enunciate vague general principles which may 
lead any crack-brained enthusiast to the conclusion that he will benefit hu- 
manity by shooting the first public official he comes across, whether it be 
a policeman or a President, is clearly a crime in itself, and must be dealt 
with as such if it assumes serious proportions." 

OPINIONS OF THE LAW MAKERS. 

^ Senators and congressmen intend to put down anarchy in America if 
stringent laws can accomplish this end. They favor also legislation mak- 
ing an attempt on the life of the President treason. An amendment to 
the constitution looking to this end is strongly favored, and the Record- 
Herald herewith presents the views of a great many of the nation's law- 
makers concerning these two most vital subjects : 

CHARLES R. SCHIRM, CONGRESSMAN FIRST MARYLAND DISTRICT. 

"Baltimore, Sept. 9. — I am thoroughly in sympathy with the propo- 
sition to make it treason to attempt the life of the President. A bill to 
amend the constitution to that effect will scarcely meet with opposition. 
But I am willing to go further and make it a treasonable offense to con- 
spire against the President's life. Mere conspiracy to do those acts which 
constitute treason has not in itself been held to be treason. Some overt 
act has been necessary. 

"The time, however, has come when drastic measures must be used in 
dealing with anarchists. The miserable creatures who select their vk- 
tims'and their tools are no less guilty than those who execute their plans. 
Such a provision as suggested may, by arousing fear of being suspected 
of conspiracy, prevent such disgraceful spectacles as were witnessed in 
Chicago and Paterson, where the attempted assassination was applauded 



Our Martyred President 431 

and the would-be assassin toasted. These exhiljitions of sympathy are 
little short of giving aid and comfort to the enemies of our country. 

'T favor a federal statute making it a crime to advocate, in any meet- 
ing, the destruction of our government by force, punishable by banish- 
ment from the country, and in case of the return to the country of any 
one so banished the imposition of a term of years at hard labor." 

CHARLES CURTIS, UNITED STATES SENATOR. ' 

"Topeka, Kan. — I favor the enactment of laws that will pre- 
vent such crimes. The punishment cannot be too severe. It should be a 
crime for any person to attend an anarchistic meeting or belong to an an- 
archistic organization. Our immigration laws should be amended so as to 
keep anarchists out of this country, and we should have a uniform natur- 
alization law." 

WILLIAM ALDEN SMITH. 

"Grand Rapids, Mich. — The attempt to take the life of Presi- 
dent McKinley was a cowardly culmination of anarchistic utterances and 
writings. I favor such legislation as will make similar attempts high 
treason against the government and all persons, whether principals or ac- 
cessories, punishable accordingly. Our national government has been too 
tolerant with its foes, and I hope the present awful calamity will result in 
the enactment of stringent laws and their rigid enforcement." 

SENATOR WILLIAM BROWN. 

"Let those talk who will about free speech — the supreme court has 
held that the crime of polygamy could not be indulged in under pretense 
of religious right, no more than the crime of human sacrifice could be in- 
dulged in as a pretense of religious liberty. What school is this of which 
we are talking ? The school that deals death to our government and mur- 
der for our Presidents. 

"What is anarchy? For a moment look at it — without government, 
turn the feeble-minded and the insane, the deaf and mute and blind out 
to wander among the people — then swing open -the doors of your peni- 
tentiaries and jails and let the weak and vicious mingle and fight and 
scramble and row until no hearthstone is safe and no home protected — 
that is anarchy, and the man or woman who teaches it in this country 
enters into a conspiracy to commit murder and destroy government. 

"I believe that the red flag of anarchy, red with the blood of our mar- 
tvred McKinley, should never again be permitted to float under the same 
sky with our Stars and Stripes. I shall never rest till our statute books 
read that to teach anarchy is to teach murder, and the teacher is made 
punishable as accessory before the fact." 



432 Life of William McKinley 

W. B. SHATTUC, CHAIRMAN OF HOUSE COMMITTEE. 

"Cincinnati. — I vv'ould favor mailing the crime of attempted 
assassination of our public officials treason. I would advocate national 
and state legislation for entirely breaking up anarchists' associations and 
anarchistic meetings, held under no matter what name, and providing for 
the arrest and banishment of any person advocating their theories and 
for the immediate death of any one putting them into execution. 

*'I shall, as chairman of the house committee on immigration and 
naturalization, as soon as Congress convenes, appoint a sub-committee to 
consider a revision of the immigration laws of this country with a view 
of enactments for preventing the landing in this country of any such 
creatures as anarchists or those holding their views, and from becoming 
citizens of the United States, and for the enactment of a national law, 
so far as it may be done constitutionally, providing for the deportation 
or hanging of those disturbers of our peace and enemies to our govern- 
ment. 

"Our country and its laws and institutions were shot at when the at- 
tempt was made to assassinate the President, and I will advocate any 
measure and go to any extreme to enable this country to rid itself of these 
vipers who should not have, under their own pleadings, any rights under 
any circumstances, to remain in this country or any other. If the Consti- 
tution, as it is, will not enable us to rid ourselves of them, we should 
amend the Constitution so that it will give the widest discretion in the 
matter. If there,is any other obstacle it should be removed. 

"Were it not for anarchistic meetings, anarchistic literature, anarch- 
istic speeches, etc., such a thing as the murder of one of our Presidents or 
other public officials would not be thought of, and it is time to eliminate, 
to annihilate the sources from which these evils spring. It cannot be done 
too quickly, either." 

H. D. MONEY, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM MISSISSIPPI. 

"Carrollton, Miss. — The question of punishing murder by an- 
archists or of punishing or preventing anarchistic meetings is for state 
legislation. I favor national legislation that will exclude them from 
this country." 

N. B. SCOTT, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA. 

"Wheeling, W. Va. — I am in favor of enacting law^s that will make 
the meeting together of persons of avowed anarchistic and like teachings 
guilty of treason, and punishable accordingly, and to amend our natural- 
ization laws so that persons known to hold such belief shall not be eligi- 



our Martyred President 433 

ble to citizenship, and to amend our immigration laws so that this class 
of undesirable persons cannot be landed in this country." 

SERENO E. PAYNE, REPRESENTATIVE TWENTY-NINTH NEW YORK DISTRICT. 

"Auburn N. Y.— Would favor legislation excluding anarchists 
from the comitry, deny them citizenship and punish them as crimmals 
for teaching the right or duty of removing any executive officer by vio- 
lence. The crime is akin to treason." 

J. H. DAVIDSON, REPRESENTATIVE SIXTH WISCONSIN DISTRICT. 

"Oshkosh Wis.— Would favor such legislation as would prevent 
those who are called anarchists and who believe in the destruction of 
established governments by assassination of those in authority from 
nter ig into or becoming citizens of the United States. Attempted 
assassination of a president ought to be treason, and the punishment 
death." 

JOHN B. CORLISS, REPRESENTATIVE FIRST MICHIGAN DISTRICT. 

"Lansino- Mich. -Congress should legislate that the assassination 
of the presfdent or attempt thereof be termed high treason, and pro- 
vision made for the ^suppression of anarchists who plot or encourage 
such dastardly deeds." 

C. I. SULLOWAY, REPRESENTATIVE FIRST MARYLAND DISTRICT. 

"Manchester N. H.-I am in favor of the most drastic legislation 
that can be authorized under the constitution. State legis ation should 
also be entcted that would make it so hot^for their fiendish acts and 
teachings that they would want to emigrate. 

SENATOR HOAR. 

"Wp .hnll I hone in due time, soberly, when the tempest of grief 
counseling murder.' 

FOR EMBARGO ON ANARCHISTS. 

Congressman Wil.ian, Connell ^"^^^'^"^Z^nf olT^S^'^ 
Powderfy are in communication -g--^'"^;*;^ ;f f p° cL a Buf- 
bills tending to prevent anarclnst ^"--'^^^'^^'^fJ^^J^^, elating to 
[,tig^L^::t;t S7Jtr,^tjinTrrl,:.sts. congressman 



434 Life of William McKinley 

Connell will look after the matter of penalizing assaults on the person 
of the president and other ofiicials. Mr. Connell proposes to make such 
assaults a treasonable offense, and declares that if the constitution stands 
in the way, he will not stop short of an effort to change the constitution. 

ANARCHY MUST CEASE. 

We append a few extracts from the editorials of the leading journals 
of the country : 

Baltimore Herald: Their presence in this country is a cancerous 
growth upon our republican form of government, and the most drastic 
measures used to remove them will not be too severe. 

Philadelphia Times : The United States can offer no asylum to those 
who war against society, and all the forces of civilization must be exerted 
to stamp out their pernicious iniluence. 

Kansas City Star: The i)rublem of dealing with anarchy under 
republican rule is difficult, it is true, but it is one for which the govern- 
ment must find some method of solution, and that right early. 

Columbus Dispatch: The laws against anarchy ought to be so 
stringent and so vigorously enforced that an individual who possesses 
its theories and preaches its doctrines cannot live in this country. 

St. Paul Pioneer press: The people of America owe it to them- 
selves to purge this land of liberty of these reptiles that use the muni- 
ments of freedom to strike at the foundations of all government. 

Toledo Times: We cannot longer continue to turn anarchists out 
of one country to prey on others. Let the world put these people where 
they can harm no one but themselves in their experimenting. 

Louisville Courier-Journal: We do not wait to kill a rattlesnake 
until his deadly fangs have struck ; we should not wait to take anarchism 
by the throat until it has accomplished its openly avowed ends of assas- 
sination. 

St. Paul Globe : Every known anarchist of foreign nativity should 
be driven from our shores. No man, native or foreign, ought to be 
allowed to remain at large who avows such doctrines. We should not 
await overt acts of violence. 

Janesville Gazette: This horrible crime against a nation, a society 
and a home must be punished according to law; and be punished so 
quickly and so severely that it will stand out for generations as a glaring 
warning to anarchy in this and all countries. 



' 



Our Martyred President 435 

Cleveland Leader : Nobody should be permitted to preach the gos- 
pel of murder in this country under the guise of anarchism or any other 
cloak. There should be freedom of speech, but that should not be ex- 
tended to mean criminal license. It is time to call a halt. 

Fond du Lac Communwealth : Let such safeguards be provided as 
will drive every anarchist organization out of existence and every an- 
archist out of this country. Give these villains to know that this is one 
country where they cannot propagate their dangerous doctrines. 

:Minneapolis Times: What is to be done? The United States is 
proud of the fact that it offers an asylum, a home and a chance for free- 
dom and livelihood to the oppressed of every nation. To anarchists, 
who are not oppressed but oppressors, the free ingress hitherto given 
must and shall be stopped. 

Syracuse Standard: It has taken a bitter lesson to teach us the 
truth, that American liberty does not mean the setting up of a refuge 
for men and women whose creed is murder. Our easygoing way of 
hoping for the best and giving everybody the benefit of the doubt is to 
be amended in the case of anarchism. 

:vIontana Record: The privilege of free speech has been abused 
and turned to bad ends, and should be restricted to exclude the ravings 
of these followers of the red flag. They should be exterminated so 
thoroughly that no sign of the red flag and no word of anarchistic doc- 
trines will be heard in this land. 

Boston Herald: Perhaps all governments may unite to establish 
an island colony where those who hold and promulgate the doctrine of 
anarchy can be compelled to go and live together as best they may, not 
as felons, but as persons affected with a peculiar insanity. Experience 
in governing themselves might w^ork a cure. 

Nashville Banner: Anarchist emigrants should be excluded from 
our shores, and those who have already found lodgment here should be 
deported. 'There is no country on earth that should afford a refuge for 
anarchists. To expel them is not to persecute for opinion's sake, but 
to take proper precaution against commission of crime. 

New York World : If the public utterances of dangerous anarchist 
sentiments, such as the advocacy or approval of assassination, either by 
speech or in print, were made sufficient cause for deportation it would 
at least be impossible for these foreign fanatics to meet and glorify the 
assassin of an American president with impunity. 



436 Life of William McKinley 

Pittsburg- Dispatch : It was time long ago that the preaching of the 
anarchist violence should have been punished on the same basis as the 
crimes for which it was directly responsible. Had this been done for 
some years back the homicidal cranks would not have had the tempta- 
tion which has resulted in their attempts on the lives of so many rulers. 

Salt Lake Herald : The question is whether it is not time to restrain 
the liberties of certain classes ; whether it is not a duty of the government 
when men are known to preach or to indorse the preaching of assassina- 
tion or of treason, whether, as a just self-defense, it is not proper and 
right to put such men in places where they can do no more harm. 

Richmond Dispatch : All of the infernal cuh and all affiliated with 
them should be hunteddown mercilessly and driven from American soil, 
and we would add that were it not for the danger of making an occa- 
sional mistake in identity it would be justifiable, we believe, in the sight 
of Ijoth God and man, to shoot any who refused to obey the order to go 
as one would a mad dog. 

Boston Globe : We are a free republic, but surely we have the right 
to say that any man who publicly and expressly advocates a violent 
attack upon our political institutions or their lawfully chosen representa- 
tives, thereby forfeits the privileges and protection of the government 
which he would destroy. No man can be in a community and out of it 
at one and the same time. No man should be suffered to invoke a law 
which he has defiantly forsworn. No man should enjoy the rights of a 
citizenship which he has deliberately renounced. These several proposi- 
tions rest upon a truth so obvious that they need no argument for their 
support. 

Omaha Bee : Manifestly, however, anarchism cannot be permitted 
to flourish in this country unrestrained. It is certainly possible to break 
up such an organization of anarchistic conspirators as that at Paterson, 
N. J., and the* governor of that state is to be heartily commended for his 
determination to proceed against this band of conspirators who boldly 
and defiantly proclaim their purpose and who are known to be in con- 
stant communication with like organizations in Europe. If the governor 
of New Jersey shall succeed in breaking up this association of would-be 
assassins his example may be followed v^dierever in this country similar 
organizations exist. 

]\Iemphis Commercial-Appeal : One thing is certain. Anarchy must 
be suppressed. To do this it may be necessary to surrender something 
that we prize highly, but the sacrifice must be made. Crazy people who 
go about the country are liable to do wrong and take a life on some mad. 



Our Martryed President 437 

momentary impulse, and many of these cannot be restrained because they 
cannot be singled out from among the common herd. They do not 
reveal their insanity, and they give no warning of impending danger. 
With the anarchist it is different. He boasts of his willingness and readi- 
ness to commit murder at any time when opportunity presents itself. He 
is always a murderer at heart. He should be given no chance to take 
life. He should be looked on as a menace to society and his tribe as 
ferine vermin. 

Chicago Tribune : Anarchists are always atheists. Their funda- 
mental proposition that there is no rightful government begins with the 
assertion that there is no God. If there is no God there is no moral 
government of the world, and in the general chaos it is every man for 
himself. If anarchy has any logic, anything beside its brutal hatreds, 
that is it. 

:|; :{; :!j ^ 5i= H^ ^ ^ 

It is a remarkable fact, and one that will not soon be forgotten, that 
just when the assassin imagines he was doing something to usher in 
tl^ie new social condition, in which there would be neither God nor gov- 
ernment of any sort, there came from the heart of the President such 
an acknowledgment of God as had the effect to waken in the hearts of 
all the people such a sense of the relation of God to human affairs as 
had never before in our history found more impressive utterance. 

Philadelphia Ledger : A conspiracy to commit crime is punishable 
under the laws of the states. The transactions at many of the anarchist 
meetings constitute breaches of the peace. Inciting others to commit 
crime is a breach of the peace and makes participants amenable to the 
penalties for an unlawful assembly. The penalties are insufficient for 
breaches of the peace committed by anarchists, but such laws as apply 
should be rigorously enforced until stronger legislation can be enacted. 
Since the lamentaljle occurrence which took place at Buffalo our law 
expounders have been ingenious in suggesting improvements of new 
legislation. These are ex post facto suggestions, and, unfortunately, do 
not apply to Czolgosz ; but the police power can be invoked to make 
the propagation of anarchism much more difficult than it has been in 
the past. 

Boston Transcript : It is a serious question whether protective 
measures should not be adopted in this country to check the growth of 
anarchism. The most obvious method of procedure that suggests itself 
is restraint upon immigration. But it is difficult to see how this remedy 
could be made immediately effective. There are no earmarks by which 



438 Life of William McKinley 

an anarchist can be infallibly identified. If an anarchist were not dis- 
posed to confess himself as snch he could not be prevented from entering 
this country. To be sure persons who had made themselves conspicu- 
ous in Europe as leaders or members of anarchistic societies could be 
refused admission. But something more than an immigration act is 
required to stamp out anarchism. So long as anarchists are allowed 
their present freedom of organization, meeting and publication, they 
will continue to flourish. Nothing short of complete abrogation of that 
freedom will accomplish any substantial results. They should be placed 
beyond the pale of the law. The formation of anarchistic clubs should be 
prohibited; their publications should be suppressed and their leaders 
outlawed. 

Washington Star : As for those reds now within this country the 
issue would rest between their direct expulsion or the enactment of laws 
calculated to render residence here unbearable for them. The choice 
between such alternatives need not be seriously difficult. The latter 
course recommends itself as the more effective of the two. For instance, 
this government can, by constitutional amendment, enlarge the definition 
of treason to cover attempts upon the life of the president and extend 
the range of treasonable crimes to permit the severe punishment of agi- 
tators wdio preach the destruction of governments and the murder of 
rulers. It can proscribe the holding of meetings and prevent the publica- 
tion of journals devoted to the murder cult. It can prevent the deliver- 
ance of lectures such as those of Emma Goldman and her kind, intended 
to fire morbid minds with murderous intent. With such laws, enforced 
always with due regard for the enjoyment by citizens of the fundamental 
prerogatives of comment and criticism, this government could not only 
repress to a very large extent the diabolical doctrines which are poisoning 
thousands of minds today, but it could set an example of wise restric- 
tions which, emulated by other powers, would render every portion of 
the civilized world an unsafe place in wdiich to hatch conspiracies to 
murder. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Trial and Condemnation of the Assassin. 

INTRODUCTION TO TRIAL. 

Respect for the law dominates the American people, and this was 
shown in the disposition of Leon Czolgosz. Saved from the fury of a 
mob, late an admiring, cheering throng, through the prompt intervention 
of the detectives, and hurried away to a dungeon at police headquarters, 
the assassin was given a speedy, fair and dignified trial, without any of 
the delays and disgraceful scenes that attended that of Guiteau. 

Placed in the "sweat box," as searching examinations by the detect- 
ives are designated, the prisoner maintained a stolid demeanor, declaring 
that he had no accomplices. As no defense save insanity could reasonably 
be set up, the mental condition of Czolgosz was critically investigated, 
many experts being called to examine him. On September 9 he was de- 
clared to be sane. Dr. Carlos MacDonald, of New York, an insanity 
expert of wide reputation, saw the prisoner on September 21 and declared 
that he was not insane. It was understood that Dr. MacDonald was acting 
in the interests of justice, preparing himself to testify in the murderer's 
behalf, had he found him not accountable for his awful act. The follow- 
ing day Dr. MacDonald, assisted by Dr. Heard, a famous alienist, and 
Dr. James \\'. Putnam, of Buffalo, made a second examination, with the 
same result. 

On September 16 the grand jury found an indictment against Czol- 
gosz, charging him with murder in the first degree. This was immedi- 
ately returned to Judge Emery, in the county court. Soon afterward the 
prisoner was brought to the jail in a carriage from the penitentiary, a mile 
distant. From the jail he was taken through a tunnel to the city hall, 
where the court was in session. This precaution was taken to avoid 
crowds of incensed people. He was shackled and held his eyes in a down- 
cast position, and, in the opinion of alienists, was shamming Insanity. 

District Attorney Penney informed him that an indictment had been 
found against him and asked him if he wanted a lawyer. Czolgosz made 
no replv and the judge repeated the question, with the same result. The 
court then appointed two eminent lawyers and ex-judges, Loran L. Lewis 
and Robert C Titus, to act as his attorneys. There was some doubt 



439 



440 Life of William McKinley 

whether the eminent gentlemen would accept the disagreeable appoint^ 
ment, but they bowed to the will of the court and assumed the thankless 
task. They saw their client for the first time on'September 21. Before 
they arrived he had been talking freely with the detectives, but he stood 
absolutely mute before them, refusing to answer a single question. 

The trial of Leon Czolgosz began before Justice Truman C. White, of 
the Supreme court of Erie county, on September 23. It was conducted 
in the city hall. Out of a panel of thirty-six jurors only one asked to be 
excused. The prisoner was brought into court shackled. He had been 
shaved— something that had before been denied him— and presented a 
neat appearance. He made no effort to sham insanity, as he had done 
upon his preliminary examination and other occasions. Not a shade of 
trouble or annoyance was visible on his face. 

His manacles were removed as he sat down behind ex- Judge Titus 
and ex-Judge Lewis. He spoke not a word to either of them, and when 
his steadfast eyes were not resting upon the floor his glances were direct 
and steady at the face of Judge White or at the jurymen who were chosen 
to hear his case. 

District Attorney Penney at once addressed the prisoner, reading the 
indictment within a few feet of the accused man's face, but in a voice so 
low that it could not be heard beyond the railing. Czolgosz did not seem 
to realize that the words were directed at liim. His eyes rested for a mo- 
ment upon the face of the judge. He looked curiouslv at Mr. Penney 
then drooped his glance upon the floor, held his hands together easily and 
naturally m his lap and waited. 

^ Justice White's challenge, "What have you to say?" seemed to arouse 
hmi. He looked calmly up. His lips moved as if he would ask a ques- 
tion, and It was evident that he had not heard the charge as read. Mr 
Penney repeated the reading and when Justice White again asked "What 
have you to say?" Czolgosz said in a low but clear voice that could be 
heard m every part of the room : 

"Guilty." 

He was standing as he said it, and he looked straight at the jud-e 
Not a muscle trembled. He had answered as nonchalantly as if to the 
question, Are you hot or cold ?" he had simply answered "Cold " 

1 he technical plea of "not guilty" was then formallv ordered and en- 
tered, and Judge Titus, for the defense, arose and explained that the atti- 
tude of himself and his associate in the case was embarrassing and pe- 
culiar, consisting chiefly in the enforced duty of securing all the form. 
ot law and justice m the prosecution of the case. In replv Justice White 
comp imented the lawyers for the defense and predicted that whatever 
might be the outcome of the trial it could not but reflect credit upon them 



Our Martyred President 44^ 

The examination of veniremen was then begun and proceeded with 
such rapidity that at noon the seventh man had taken his place in the jury 
box. Judge Lewis, who, for the defense, did most of the questioning, 
asked every proposed juryman whether he would acquit a man whose in- 
sanity at the moment of the murder was proved, and whether he, the jury- 
man had been a witness of the shooting or present in the Temple of Music 
at the moment the President was shot. Most of the veniremen excused 
expressed the belief that their opinions as to the assassin's guilt were al- 
ready so firmly fixed that no amount of testimony or argument could 
shake their belief. Many who admitted that they had already formed an 
opinion, but insisted that they were open to argument and proof, were 
readily admitted by both sides. 

During the examination of veniremen Czolgosz sat erect and untlmch- 
incr in his chair. He held his head upright generally, but at times, as if 
wearied with the procedure, in which he evinced no interest whatever, his 
head would loll to one side in a position which seems habitual and which 
was well expressed in the picture of him first published in the newspapers. 
\t noon the court adjourned until two o'clock. Forty minutes after 
the reassembling of the court the jury was completed, being made up of 
the following, all of mature age, eight being born Americans, three Ger- 
mans and one Englishman: Frederick V. Lauer, plumber; Richard G. 
Garwood, street railway foreman ; Henry W. Wendt, manufacturer; Silas 
Cramer, farmer; James S. Stygall, plumber; William Loton, farmer; 
Walter K Everett, blacksmith; Benjamin J. Ralph, bank cashier; Samuel 
P. Waldo, farmer; Andrew J. Smith, commission merchant; Joachim H. 
Martens, shoe dealer; Robert J. Adams, contractor. _ 

After a brief statement of the case by Assistant District Attorney 
Frederick Haller, the first witness, Samuel J. Fields, chief engineer of the 
Pan-American Exposition, was called and submitted drawings showing 
the scene of the assassination in the Temple of Music. 

Dr Harvey R. Gaylord, of Buffalo, who was then called, testified that 
he had performed the autopsy upon the body of the President. He de- 
scribed the wounds in the stomach, the direction of the bullet and the con- 
dition of the organs and portions touched by the missile 

"Back of the stomach," he said, "was a track m which I could insert 
the tip of my fingers. It was filled with a dark fluid matter. The search 
for the bullet was not continued after the cause of death had been ascer- 
tained The pancreas was seriously involved. The cause of death was 
the gunshot wound. The organs of the body other than those affected 
were in a normal condition. r t^,,i, 

-The wounds in the stomach were not necessarily the cause of death. 
The fundamental cause was the changes back of the stomach. The 



442 Life of William McKinley 

actual cause was absorption of the broken down matter of the pancreas. 
There is nothing known to medical science that would have arrested 
the progress of the changes caused by the passage of the bullet through 
the pancreas." 

Judge Lewis closely cross-examined Dr. Gaylord on the question 
whether antiseptics were used to prevent inflammation. The doctor ex- 
plained that inflammation resulted from bacteria entering the wound 
and that antiseptics were used to kill these germs. 

District Attorney Penney closely questioned Dr. Herman Mynter, 
the next witness, regarding the operation performed at the exposition 
hospital immediately after the shooting. Dr. M3aiter said that the sur- 
geons found the wound in the upper left hand side of the abdominal 
cavity; that the president at once agreed to an operation, understanding 
perfectly that perhaps his life depended upon it. 

■"The abdomen was opened," said Dr. Mynter, '1jut it was diftkult 
to get at the wound in the back of the stomach. The stomach was 
turned around and the orifice there, as well as that at the front, sutured 
and antiseptically washed. We could not follow the further course of 
the bullet at that time, and, as the president's temperature was rising, it 
was agreed by all the physicians and surgeons present that further search 
was inadvisable at the time. The stomach was replaced, and on the 
advice of all present the patient was removed to the Milburn house." 

As to the result of the autopsy, Dr. Mynter said that it proved, first, 
that there was no inflammation of the bowels; second, that there was no 
injury to the heart ; third, that 'there was a gunshot wound in the stom- 
ach, and fourth, that there was a gangrenous spot back of the stomach 
as large as a silver dollar. He stated that the cause of death was blood 
poisoning from the absorption of poisonous matter caused by the gan- 
grene; that primarily it was the gunshot wound. 

Dr. ]\Iatthew D. Mann, another of the physicians who attended Pres- 
ident McKinley, was the next witness. He went over the ground cov- 
ered by Dr. Mynter and described the operation performed at the exposi- 
tion hospital. 

"To find the track of the bullet, back of the stomach," Dr. Mann ex- 
plained, "it would have been necessary to remove the bowels from the 
abodminal cavity. The performance of that operation would probably 
have resulted fatalh^ as the president already had grown very weak as a 
result of the first operation." 

The cross-examination of Dr. ]\Iann, which was conducted at con- 
siderable length, was not concluded when the court adjourned for the 
day. 

The cross-examination of physicians, the direct testimony of secret 



Our Martyred President 443 

service officers, marines and other immediate witnesses of the tragedy 
occupied most of the day. Dr. Mann explained that the optimistic 
bulletins sent out during the first days of the president's illness were 
based upon the evident facts of his improving condition without regard 
to what might eventuate. There was, he said, no way to predict the 
final catastrophe, but the press had even exaggerated the hopefulness of 
the statements at first made by the doctors. 

The doctors explained that President IMcKinley was not in first-class 
])hysical condition when he was shot. Lack of exercise, hard work and 
a dearth of fresh air had somewhat weakened his normal vigor they 
said. 

The long story of the anarchist's frank and even satisfied admissions 
to the police after his arrest, his boasts of "duty done," his free and 
unforced statements of the motives which prompted him as he told them 
after his arrest, his lack of remorse, his physical indifference, were all 
expUjited by the witnesses who saw him shoot down the president and 
later listened to his own recital of the cowardly crime. 

No witnesses were sworn for the defense. Not a word of evidence 
was before the court as to the sanity of the prisoner. The alienists who 
examined him were not called. To the assassin was offered the oppor- 
tunity to go on the stand, but he only shook his head when his lawyers 
asked him. 

\Mien Czolgosz came to court in the morning he was dressed as on 
the preceding day. but every one was instantly struck with the change 
.in his appearance and demeanor. He had tried to conceal it, and had 
smeared his hair with vaseline, so that it looked darker and ran into oily 
curls. 

The life, the stamina was gone out of him. His head drooped in 
spite of him. It was a more trying day for him. He saw exhibited in 
court the revolver with which he did his crime, the burnt handkerchief, 
in which he had concealed it, the one bullet that was recovered, and he 
heard the testimony of the men who saw the deed and met again those 
who seized him. He found that of the physicians who had examined 
him not one was to testify to help him, and there was no refuge in the 
plea of insanity. The death chamber was clearly in sight. 

Judge Lewis addressed the jury on behalf of the defense, his asso- 
ciate afterwards concurring in all he said. As he progressed it became 
apparent that his whole soul recoiled against the crime which he sought 
to extenuate. His utter helplessness and the stubborn refusal of the 
accused man to aid him added to the sympathy felt for Judge Lewis, and 
when he had concluded his speech every hearer bowed in respect to his 
age, his eloquence and his unhidden admiration for the martyred presi- 
dent. 2® 



444 Life of William McKinley 

"This trial here is a great object lesson to the world," he said in the 
course of his moving speech, "Here is a case where a man has stricken 
down the beloved president of this country in broad dayhght, in the pres- 
ence of h-undreds of thousands of spectators. If there was ever a case 
that would excite the anger, the wrath of those who saw it, this was one, 
and yet, under the advice of the president, 'Let no man hurt him,' he 
was taken, confined in our prison, indicted, put upon trial here and the 
case is soon to be submitted to you as to whether he is guilty of the crime 
charged against him. That, gentlemen, speaks volumes in favor of the 
orderly conduct of the people of the city of Buffalo. 

"How can a man with a sane mind perform such an act? The rab- 
ble in the streets will say, no matter whether he is insane or not, he 
deserves to be killed. The law, however, says that you must consider 
the circumstances, and see if he was in his right mind or not when he 
committed the deed. If you find he was not responsible you would aid 
in lifting a great cloud from the minds of the people of this country. 
If the beloved president had met with a railroad accident and been killed 
our grief could not compare with what it is now. If you find that he met 
his fate through the act of an insane man, it is the same as though he met 
it by accident. 

"I had the profoundest respect for President McKinley. I watched 
him in congress and during his long public career, and he was one of 
the noblest men God ever made. His policy we care nothing about, but 
it always met with my profoundest respect. His death was the sad- 
dest blow to me that has occurred in many years." 

District Attorney Penney concluded a brief but most eloquent ad- 
dress, with these words : 

"The duty of counsel on b')th sides is ended. The court will charge 
you briefly, then it will be your duty to take up the case. No doubt the 
same thought, the same object, is in all our minds — that although our 
beloved country has lost its greatest man, it still should maintain the 
respect of the whole world, and it should be made known to the whole 
world that no man can come here and commit such a dastardly act and 
not receive the full penalty of the law." 

In his charge, Justice White set out, briefly, but clearly, the law that 
was to govern the jury in reaching their verdict. In the course of it 
he said : 

"I am very glad that up to the present stage of this lamentable affair, 
so far as the jury and people of this city are concerned, there has been 
shown that respect for the law that is bound to teach a valuable object 
lesson: The defendant has been given every advantage of experienced 
counsel. I deplore any incitement to violence, and the man who is readv 



Our Martyred President 445 

to ^o out and commit a crime because some other man had committed 
it is as guilty as the latter, and his act is just as reprehensible." 

"Guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the indictment," 
was the response of Foreman Henry W. Twendt to the formal question 
of the clerk, when the jury returned to the courtroom after an absence 
of thirty minutes. Czolgosz heard the verdict without apparent emo- 
tion and was handcuffed and led back to his cell. 

The stony reserve which had been a distinguishing characteristic of 
the actions of Czolgosz, remained unbroken the day after his conviction, 
when the prisoner had a visit from the members of his family. His 
father, brother and sister, who obtained permission to visit him m the cell, 
were each overcome by their feelings and wept and implored Czolgosz to 
tell the names of the people who had aided him in the plot, m the hope 
that such a confession would release the family from the stam which had 

descended upon it. ^^ . , . ,, 

To all such entreaties Czolgosz turned a deaf ear. He said quietly 
that he was glad to see his relatives, just as he would have said he was 
crlad to see an acquaintance in the days of his freedom, and he talked 
quietly of every subject that was suggested to him save only the subject 

of a plot. . . 1 A r ^ 

Victoria Czolgosz, the sister of the assassin, a girl i6 years of age 
and quite pretty, became eloquent as she described to her brother how the 
fino-er of scorn was pointed at them wherever they went and how the 
name of Czolgosz had become so infamous that they were ashamed to 
bear it before men. The girl wept bitterly and begged and Pegged again 
that some light might be thrown on the reason why he killed McKinley 
"I only did my duty. No. there was no one to help me.^ 1 did it all 
myself," said the prisoner at last, but without the slightest indication of 
re"-ret or other emotion. . rj ^4- 

It was apparent throughout the interview that the prisoner did not 
trust the members of his family at all, but thought that they were acting 
as spies and had been brought to his cell in order that he might niake some 
statements which would be of use to the police. For this reason his replies 
showed marked distrust and even in answers to questions of most simple 
import he waited a long time before giving answers. ^ ,, ^..^Unn 

In the course of the whole visit Czolgosz never asked a single question 
recrarding his other relatives or showed any interest m the affairs of the 
wSrld. Every word he uttered was in reply to a question, ^"^ .^v^^J^"- 
swer was res'trained and guarded in its tenor Reason, emotion arg^^^ 
ment, paternal authority, sisterly affection, al f .^%^!^^\ ^" ^^^^^^^^^^^ 
one jot from the stony impasslveness noticed m him from his first exam 

ination by the police. 



446 Life of William McKinley 

For thirty-five minutes this interview proceeded, agonized on the part 
of the visitors, unconcerned on the side of the prisoner. Then came the 
time for good-byes. Paul Czolgosz, the father, his emotion clearly show- 
ing, in his actions, tremblingly held out his hand to his son, who, even if 
he had killed the president of his country, was still his son. Czolgosz 
shook it quietly, bade his father good-bye in a quiet voice and then shook 
the hand of his brother Waldeck in the same half-friendly manner. 

But his sister would not be content with this. The tears streaming- 
down her cheeks, she flung her arms around the prisoner and kissed him 
several times. Quite unperturbed, Czolgosz submitted to her embrace 
and then when she turned to go said : 

"Good-bye, Victoria; good-bye, all of you." 

On the afternoon of September 26 the convicted assassin was brought 
into court to hear the already well-understood but none the less awful 
sentence of death. As a preliminary, the prisoner was sworn and exam- 
ined by Mr. Penney. He answered the questions in a weak voice. In 
substance his statement was as follows : 

He was, he said, born in Detroit, twenty-eight years ago, his last resi- 
dence having been on Broadway, Buffalo. He was a single man and had 
worked as a laborer and ironworker. He received his education in the 
common and in Catholic schools ; was a member of the Catholic church. 
Plis father was living, his mother dead. He stated that he did not drink 
much, but did not answer when asked if he was ever drunk. He had 
never been convicted of a crime. 

Asked if he had anything to say, any reasons to urge why a sentence 
of death should not be pronounced upon him, the prisoner replied that he 
could not hear. After considerable explanation he made the following 
statement : 

"There was no one else but me. No one else told me to do it and no 
one paid me to do it. I was not told anything about that crime and I 
never thought an^-thing about murder until a couple of days before I 
committed the crime." 

Czolgosz sat down. He was quite calm, but it w\as evident that his 
mind was flooded with thoughts of his own distress. His eyes were di- 
lated, making them appear very bright. His cheeks were a trifle pale and 
his outstretched hand trembled. The guards put the handcuffs on his 
wrists. He looked al one of the officers. 

There was an expression of the profoundest fear and helplessness in 
his eyes. He glanced about at the people who crowded the room in efforts 
to get a look at him. The prisoner's eyelids rose and fell tremul.uisly and 
then he fixed his gaze on the floor in front of him. 

At this point Judge Titus came over to the prisoner and bade him 



Our Martyred President 447 

good-bye. Czolgosz replied very faintly, letting his eye rest upon the 
man who had been his counsel. 

"Good-bye," he said, weakly. _ 

The convicted murderer looked fixedly, unflinchingly upon the judge 
as he pronounced sentence in the following words : 

"In takino- the life of our beloved President you committed a crune 
which shocked and outraged the moral sense of the civilized world. \ on 
have confessed that guilt, and after learning all that at this time can 1,e 
learned from the facts and circumstances of the case twelve good jurors 
have pronounced you guilty of murder in the first degree 

"You have said, according to the testimony of creditable witnesses and 
yourself that no other person aided or abetted you in the commission ot 
[his terrible act. God grant it may be so. The penalty for the crime or 
which you stand convicted is fixed by this statute and it now becomes my 
duty to pronounce this judgment against you. . . p, . , _o 

"The sentence of the court is that m the week beginning October 28, 
1901, at the place, in the manner and means prescribed by law, you suffer 

the punishment of death." cu^,.;f(r rnlrlwell 

M ten o'clock on the night when sentence was passed, Sheiifl Caldwell 
-md sixteen men left Buffalo to convey the condemned man to the prison 
nt \uburn where it was to be carried into effect. Arriving at Auburn, 
abou three o'clock the following morning, Czolgosz encountered an angry 
tong of some 300 persons aM almost totally collapsed, being stricken 

^^'^r^^S- f-- the train to the prison gate, between two 
deout es to whom he was handcuffed, he was mauled by the crowd. So 
SectS:as the onslaught of the crowd that ..e ^^^^^ 

^'-:"^^;t:'S"h^tad ai. brought instant ..laps. His 

fr d t !::f ^ei i^ ^i:- r ^:S^:^^^^^^ 

bled to his knees "^ ^'^J^ ^^^^^ 1 there moaning 

■ :tr Sf r.o.S?ontl i.o„ ,ates and yeUed, "Give Ui™ 
to us ! Let us in at ^ -^^^^^ ,;,„ The handcuffs were taken off. 

. jsr £ s rr- :,S;;S';;: ,,„».,». «. 



448 Life of William McKinley 

was in a state of absolute collapse, and when left alone rolled over to the 
floor, where he lay stretched at full length, his eyes rolling in a frenzy and 
his frothing lips twitching convulsively. Two keepers seized him and 
commanded Inm to stand up. His knees shook and he fell to the floor. 

"Oh ! Oh ! Oh !" he shrieked again as the howls from the crowd with- 
out came through the windows. 

"Shut up ! You're faking !" said Dr. Gern, the prison physician. The 
assassin oljeyed the command except that he moaned dismally in a quieter 
tone and continued to writhe in agony. Two kee])ers stripped him of his 
clothing and placed on him a prison suit of clothing. He was not then 
bathed, nor was his pedigree taken. These formalities were complied 
with the following morning. 

"Such was the end, so far as the outer w^orld is concerned, of the man 
who delil)erately took the life of gentle, genial, generous William Mc- 
Kinley, the most highly appreciated and universally beloved President 
that living Americans have ever seen. Potent enough to nerve his hand 
to the commission of a diabolical and most illogical crime, the teachings 
of anarchy utterly failed to support him as he approached that closing 
scene when human nature so sadly needs help. 




LEON CZOLGOSZ 
The Assassin of McKinley 



CHAPTER XXXL 

The Great Speech of Senator J. N. Thurston at the St. Loufs 
Convention, June 17, 1896. 

THE nation's man. 

Who can best lead the republican party back to power — grandly, 
triumphantly back to power? 

We have in mind one man who combines all the qualities of Amer- 
ican greatness ; who has gathered renown upon every field of American 
achievement; who wears upon his breast the cross of valor, won in the 
forefront of his country's battles, and on his brow the laurel of many 
victories earned in the arena of national statesmanship. This man has 
so far outgrown the environments of state and locality that he stands the 
acknowledged representative of every section of the Union; he has so 
long and so ably championed the American protective system that he is 
today the one accredited representative and accepted spokesman of our 
toiling masses. His public service has been continuous, diversified and 
splendidly successful; while his home life, wherein is typified the truest 
character of the man, is an epic poem of domestic devotion. 

And this man upon whose burnished shield malice can find no blem- 
ish and slander place no stain ; this man, whose whole life has been con- 
secrated to his God, his country and his home; this man whose intense 
loyalty and devotion to American interests make him the ideal leader 
for a supreme hour ; this man of the people, this uncompromising friend 
of those who toil, a soldier, a statesman, patriot, without fear and with- 
out reproach, our candidate for the presidency of the United States, is 
William McKinley. 

Who is William McKinley? A soldier of the republic, a boy volun- 
teer, knighted by his country's commission for conspicuous gallantry 
on desperate fields. When Sheridan, summoned by the rising roar of 
doubtful battle, rode madly down from Winchester and drew nigh to 
the shattered and retreating columns of his army, the first man he met 
to know was a young lieutenant, engaged in the heroic task of rallying 
and reforming the Union lines, ready for the coming of the master, 
whose presence and genius alone could wrest victory from defeat. That 
young lieutenant v^as a private in 1861, a major in 1866. The years 

449 



450 Life of William McKinley 

that others gave to educational pursuits he gave to his country. His 
Alma Mater was the tented field. He graduated in a class of heroes. 
His diploma bears the same signature as does the emancipation procla- 
mation. 

This is a good time for a soldier candidate, for one whose experience 
in war has been supplemented by more than a quarter of a century of 
diversified service and success in the affairs of state. A few more years 
and the youngest participant in the war of the rebellion will have passed 
from active life, and all too soon the last survivor will cease to bless 
us with his living presence. This is perhaps our only remaining oppor- 
tunity to nominate for the presidency a man who combines the distin- 
guished qualities of proven valor and ripe statesmanship. 

There are other, graver reasons why a soldier should head the ticket. 
We are at peace with all the world, and yet within the last few days 
prophetic ears have almost heard the clash of resounding arms. This 
country may be confronted during the next administration with the 
gravest international complications. Foreign greed for dominion and 
territorial extension may hold much of menace to our honor and our 
peace. 

The Monroe doctrine may never be accepted as international law ex- 
cept through the arbitrament of arms. The people of this country are 
looking anxiously and seriously to the future. Nothing can so certainly 
relieve their anxiety; nothing can so thoroughly satisfy them that peace, 
with honor, will be preserved as the election to the presidency of a man 
who is not only a successful statesman, but who was also a successful 
soldier. They knew that the lieutenant who held the wavering lines 
for Sherman in the Valley of the Shenandoah will hold the honor of his 
country as paramount to all other considerations, and that under his 
administration no American principle will ever be sj-irrendered to any 
foreign demand. 

But the history of McKinley is not all of war. For two decades he 
served his country as a representative in the congress of the United 
States, rising to no sudden prominence, attempting no eagle flight, but 
mounting gradually and steadily, year after year, until he became the 
recognized leader upon its floor. iVs chairman of its most important 
committee he formulated, championed and pressed to passage the most 
perfect protective tariff act ever framed, under the beneficent operation of 
which this country reached its greatest prosperity, and with whose repeal 
came its most terrible industrial and commercial disaster. 

The McKinley tariff of 1890 has been criticised and maligned, but 
under it there was no deficit in our revenues ; there was no dissipation of 
the gold reserve; there was no panic, no business depression, no millions of 



Our Martyred President 451 

unemployed. On the contrary, stimulated by its protective provisions, 
every industry in the country grew apace. While it remained upon our 
statute books there were more factories in operation, more men at labor, 
more money in circulation, more wages paid, more business activity and 
more universal and diversified prosperity than in any other period of the 
nation's life. The republican party may not stand for the precise re-enact- 
ment of every schedule of the McKinley act, but it does stand, and it must 
stand, by the broad principle of protection, so splendidly exemplified 
therein. 

It has been said that the McKinley tariff was repudiated by the people 
in 1890 and 1892, but the phenomenal republican victories of 1894 and 
1895 can be attributed to no other cause than their readoption of 
the protective features of that act. Its repeal was attended by all the 
disasters which its author has so vividly predicted, and the people have 
been educated on the tariff question since 1892. The demand for the re-< 
enactment of a protective tariff has made a republican camp of every 
labor community in the United States; and the men, whose votes have 
swung the pendulum of majorities back and forth, are today the men 
whose voices are uplifted and whose hearts are throbbing for the nomina- 
tion of William McKinley. 

What does the name of William McKinley not mean to the men of 
toil? It means a higher-priced dinner pail, but it means a dinner pail 
abundantly filled and proudly carried by each sturdy toiler of the land, in 
whose brawny hand it is the badge of America's truest nobility. 

What does the name of McKinley not mean to the vast army of the 
unemployed, to the deserted factories and workshops ? What does it not 
mean to the farmers of the United States ? They at last understand that 
the decline in the price of every American agricultural product kept pace 
with the downfall of American manufacturers and the attendant decrease 
in the earnings of the labor classes. 

No other man, no other name can arouse such enthusiasm in all parts 
of our country. He is the logical candidate of New England, for he has 
proven himself the stalwart friend of* all her vast enterprises and inter- 
ests. He is the logical candidate of the mighty West, which looks to him. 
and to the policies which his candidacy would represent, to stay that 
steady current of depreciation In all their products which set in so strongly 
from the very hour of the repeal of the McKinley act. He Is the logical 
candidate of the new South, that section which is breaking away from the 
traditions and limitations of the past; that new South which stands ready, 
under protective legislation, for such a new development of resources and 
such a phenomenal industrial activity, as will contest for supremacy with 
those of the richest and most highly developed portions of the Union. 



452 Life of William McKinley 

Who is opposed to the nomin:.tion of Wilham McKinley ? We do not 
question the sincerity or patriotism of the followers of other great party 
leaders, but there may be some whose local pride in local candidates blinds 
them to the overwhelming demand of the republican masses ; there may 
be some whose desire makes them indifferent to the welfare of, the 
people ; there may be some whose lust for patronage is greater than their 
love of country. 

Let all such take heed. Politicians have defeated the popular will in 
more than one national convention, but this time the tide is too strong, the 
demand too great, the enthusiasm too spontaneous to be ignored. 

William McKinley has not a personal enemy in the United States. 
Every man who served with him in all his congressional life grew not only 
to respect and honor him for his private and public worth, for his sincere 
convictions and his courageous, consistent and patriotic course, but each 
and all held for him a measure of affection greater than the love of friends. 
No man has ever been called upon to apologize for anything he ever did, 
for any word he ever spoke. His record is as white and clean as the 
driven snow. The sincerity of his convictions has never been questioned 
even by political foes, and the courage and eloquence with which he has 
advocated and maintained them have won for him the admiration of all 
mankind. 

He has addressed the people in every section of the country, and his 
words have carried greater conviction and secured more converts to repub- 
lican principles than those of any other living man. His public experience 
and service have been rounded ; his character strengthened and seasoned ; 
his executive ability demonstrated; his fitness for power more clearly 
shown by his administration of the great state of Ohio. And today, in 
the prime of life, in the full vigor of health and strength, he stands fore- 
most among the distinguished leaders and statesmen of his time ; pre-emi- 
nent in all the qualities that make a man ; equipped with every weapon of 
experience and statecraft ; a gigantic figure in American politics ; the man' 
toward whom the people instinctively turn to lead them from the wilder- 
ness back into the promised land. 

He will be nominated and elected ; yea, it is written in the stars ! And 
what a grand, patriotic, overwhelming chorus of rejoicing will greet him 
as he inaugurates a new American administration. Every ponderous 
waterwheel, weakened by the rush and roar of captive waters; every glad 
spindle, whirling to the impulse of restored activity; every shrill whistle 
calling impatient millions once again to labor, will thunder and sing and 
scream for joy, for the beneficent bow of a regained prosperity will span 
the American heavens when William McKinley Is President of the 
United States. 



Our Martyred President 453 

We cannot more fittingly close this volume than by giving the 
above eloquent speech of Senator Thurston in seconding the nomina- 
tion of William McKinley for the presidency in 1896. It contains a 
glowing prophecy which met a magnificent fulfillment. 

'The beneficent bow of a regained prosperity" did indeed "span 
the American heavens" when Mr. McKinley was elected to the highest 
office the people could confer upon him. And though he has gone, at 
the end of his arduous and beneficent life to the reward of the righteous 
in the upper and eternal kingdom of God, the radiant baw of promise 
still arches in splendor over the American nation. 

The good work of unity, reciprocity and good will so auspiciously 
inaugurated by our "well. beloved" martyred President will be grandly 
carried forward as the years roll on. We need have no pessimistic 
fears regarding the future of our own America. Anarchy is but a passing 
evil incident in our progressive march into history. The funeral 
of William McKinley, unprecedented in the annals of mankind, did 
not mean the burial of the republic. 

Above the undertone of the sorrowful strains that burst from mil- 
lions of American lips, when we laid our honored dead to rest, was 
the exultant overtone of the heaven-inspired song of that youthful con- 
tinental chaplain, in the darkest days of the Revolution, who wrote: 

"Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise. 
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies." 

There is no consumption in Columbia's blood ; there is no fever in her 
veins ; there is no paralysis in her limbs ; there is no organic disease in her 
heart. The strength of the everlasting hills is in her glorious frame ; the 
beauty of her flashing lakes and rivers and seas is in her tear-stained 
face ; the light of benignity is in her beaming eyes, though the gleaming 
sword of justice against anarchy is in her uplifted hand ; a sweep oceanic 
is in her expanding thought. To "hush the tumult of war and give 
peace to the world" is her divinely appointed mission. She is indeed 
the child of the skies. She shall not fail nor be discouraged in her 
sublime work. "No weapon that is formed against her shall prosper, 
for heaven will never abandon the offspring of its love. 



31^77 -i 



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